Santa Fe Reporter, March 1, 2023

We’re Lucky to have you

Jesse Allen

Stephen Apodaca

Gini Barrett

Gayla Bechtol

Jonathan Blakey & Nanci Cartwright

The Blogs

The Bobs

Curtis Borg

M Yvonne Brown

BSPOKE Brand

Consultancy

Kent Buckingham

Anne Coller

Barbara Conroy

John & Bekki Cook

Davis-Gibbon Family

M DeAnda Hay

Mark Davies

The Deej

Adrienne DeGuere

Rothstein Donatelli, LLP

Deborah Dorff

Nate Downey

DeeDee Downs

Frances Adams & David Patterson

Bill Adrian

Jan & Jim Allen

Helga Ancona

Keith Anderson & Barbara Lenssen

Lars Anderson

Jarratt Applewhite

Atlas Fitness Center

Karen Aubrey

Irene P. Ayala

Joseph & Tamara Banar

Cris & Marilyn Barnes

Ben Baur

Betty Baxter

Joanie Puma Bennet

Bill Bergner

Neil H. & Kelley O.

Berman

Jason Berry

Ruth Blaser

Gay Block &

Billie Parker

Gino Brazil

George Ducker

Dona Durham

Lauren Eaton Prescott

Sara, Michael & Nordic Eckhardt

Areena Estul & Shell Goldman

Ever Joyful Yoga

Jill & Terry Fernandez

Gail B Flanagan

Cheryl Fossum

Graham Q Gallaher

Dr. Jan Gaynor

Mark Glaser

Helen Goldberg

Goodwest Productions

Katy Gross

David Gunter

Mary Hall

The Harwood Family

M DeAnda Hay

HaydenFold

Tom & Rose Himrod

Samuel Hokin

Nelson Hower

David Breecker

Markeeta Brown

Alexis Bove

Georgellen Burnett

Anne & Jack Burton

(IMO - Richard McCord)

Lee Caldwell & Marcus Randolph

Mary Ellen Capek & Sue Hallgarth

Susan & Appy Chandler

Jill Christian & Kiera Ortiz

Cisneros Design

Tom Claffey

Mary Costello

Gene Covington & Patrick Murphy

CC Culver

Tess DeGange

Merrilee De Vore

Elizabeth Dunham

Meredith Dunning

Peace Exists

Joanne Feinberg

Joanna Hurley

Sheila Hyde

RECURRING GIFTS

James Lutz

Megan Kamerick

Heather Karlson & Bill Leeson

Diane Karp

The Reverend

Canon Ted Karpf

Katie & Andrew

Nicholas King

Photography

Laurie Knight

Karen Ann Koestner

Ruth & Paul Kovnat

Joseph Lacayo

Laurel Ladwig & Trina Altman

Melanie Lamb Faithful

Guido Lambelet

David LaPlantz

Catherine & Britt Leach

Long View Asset Mgmt

Douglas Lonngren

Peter Lundberg & James Mowdy

Dede Feldman

Joshua Finnell

Barbara Fix

Denise Fort

Ella Frank

Michael Friestad

Thomas G. Gallegos

Paul R. GanzenMuller & Mary Anne Crowe

Roman Garcia

Russ Garland

Lynn Gary

Tim & Lina Germann

Birgitte Ginge

Marvin Godner

Susan Gordon

Lisa Gray Fisher

Teri Hackler

Eleanor Hartgerink & Michael J Huvane

Cynthia Hartling

Pat Hodapp

Vicki Holmsten & Don Allen

Bernhard Holzapfel

Scotty & Sue MacGregor

Jane & Paul Mandel

Virginia Mattingly

Kate McCahill

Jean McCray

James McGrath Morris

Mike & Mary McGuire

Jean McIntosh

Sara McKenzie

Jean McRay

Lanette & Jeff Meister

Bram Meehan

Richard Meeker

Michael A. Messner

Katherine Mille Wimmer

Karla Milosevich

Laurie Mitchell Dunn

Marylin Morgan

Kristen S. Moy

Heidi Munziner

Juliet Myers

Lauren Paige

Kristen Pelz

SUPPORTERS

Michel & Lynn Hopkins

Jane & Lee Hruska

Ken Hughes

Carol Ingells

Craig D. Jolly

Hal Kahn

Jeff & Sue

Kemner-Richardson

Thomas J Kenny

Michael Kentor & Mandy Dealey

KevinBox Studio

Corinne Kratz

Nicole Kuckly

Malissa Kullberg & Joshua Maes

Kelly & Robinson Kurth

Cathy LaForte

Bushrod Lake

Leslie Lakind

Mary Laraia & Andrew Mooney

Signe Lindell

Dave Maass

Grace Perez & John Benfatto

Justin Peters

Janey Phillips

Johnnie Prather

Proctor Family

Rainbird

Susan Ray

Leslie Reambeault & Carol Nolden

Greg Reiche

Shelley Robinson

John R Roby

B. Rose

Pat & Richard Rosenthal

Barbara Russell

Pamela Ryan

Gary A. Sanchez

Dante Schackel Bordegaray

Don Schreiber

Vickie Sewing

Mary Ann Shaening

Martin Shannon

Joan Sickler & Mike Roscow

Danette Sills

Brandt Magic & Mary Kinney

KZ Langan & LH Cline

Ramona Lopez Marcus

Randi Lowenthal

Dorothy Marchand

Gloria Martinez

Friestad

Virginia Mattingly

Alice McAlpine

Pam McFarland

Sasha McGhee

Dee Ann McIntyre

Elizabeth Alexander & Larry Metzger

Milagro Dental

Rohit Millstein

Native Bloom

Bob & Karan Novak

Craig O’Hare

Dylan O’Reilly &

Sara Montgomery

OrigamiInTheGarden

Linda Osborne

Nancy Paap Wright

Melinda Silver & Melvin Buchwald

Caitlin Smith

Leslye Sneider

Joan Snider

Lauren Snyder

Meredith Speers

Dr. Eric Springstead

Howard & Dorothy Stein

Laura Stupin

Robert D Taylor

Caitlin Thomas

Pamela Villars

Adair Waldenberg

Jasmine Walker

Jeff Waters

Dr. David Wood & Brad Barrios

Mary Beth Yates

Kimberly Zeilik

Ellen Zieselman

Janet Patrick

Susan Allen Priest

William & Susan Primm

Linda Prince

Daniel Quat

Photography

Dori & Tom Ramsey

James & Barbara Redd

Judith Redstone

Linda Reid

Coletta Reid & Pat Hastings

Ana Reinhardt

John Robertson

Sally Rodgers

Patsie E. Ross

Karen Rowell

Sonya & Myron

Salamon

Gail P Samota

Patrice Schooley

Roberta Shaw

Linda Siegle

Martha & Ken Simonsen

Andrea Szekeres

Morgan Smith

Anne Souders

Carolyn Spolidoro

Monica Steidele

Dennis Storz

Melody & Michael Sumner

Jim Terr

Rachel Thompson

Suzanne Timble

Two Star Trading

Rob Turner

Christine & Paul Vogel

Kaela Waldstein

Brian Watkins

Adam Wasserman

Elizabeth West

Brian & Joan Weiss

Janislee Wiese

Leah Yngve

Faith Yoman

OPINION 5

7 DAYS, CLAYTOONZ AND THIS MODERN WORLD 6

SUBSTATION SOMEWHERE 8

Police plan to set up shop in City Hall, yet officials have paved the way to use the historic Santa Fe Depot

READY, SET, SOLAR 11

Company lays out plans for commercial energy project in Santa Fe County

COVER STORY 12

WHEN THE LANDLORDS MAKE THE LAWS

With property owners well represented among lawmakers, tenant protections sputter at the Capitol

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CULTURE

SFR PICKS 17

Two Danas, the sweetest pottery, Demetri Martin and the thing about love

THE CALENDAR 18

3 QUESTIONS 20

With actor Laura Gómez

MUSIC 25

FULL CIRCLE

Promoters Jamie Lenfestey and Tim Franke Leave AMP Concerts for Lensic’s expansion to outside venues

FOOD 27

A BUG’S LIFE

So much more than luggage, Travel Bug gets into the beer game

MOVIES 28

COCAINE BEAR REVIEW

It’s pretty much as bad as anyone can bear (#swish)

EDITOR AND PUBLISHER

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ANDY LYMAN

ANDREW OXFORD

CALENDAR EDITOR

SIENA SOFIA BERGT

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SAVANNAH JANE WALTON

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NEWS, FEB. 15: “RAISE PER GLASS”

TAX WIPES AWAY PROGRESS

Elected officials in Santa Fe are trying to raise alcohol taxes again. It’s one movie that doesn’t need a sequel. This year struggling bars and restaurants need a break.

It feels like we’re trapped in a remake of Groundhog Day where small New Mexico breweries aren’t sure what potentially business-ending news we can expect to wake up to next.

A sweeping increase in state excise taxes for all alcohol sellers at this time would effectively wipe out any incremental progress we have made throughout 2022 as our state has lessened regulations and patrons have felt safe to once again enter our establishments. This proposed tax increase could potentially destroy my business once and for all, which employs 335 individuals and has operated in New Mexico for the last 10 years.

We don’t want to pass all these costs on to consumers. However, if excise taxes go up we will be left with few options. With the looming threat of a full-blown recession, higher taxes could be the final straw for many restaurants and bars like mine. It’s time for lawmakers in the Roundhouse to wake up

and realize that higher alcohol taxes are a nightmare for the hospitality sector.

JESS

GREIGO, COO, BOSQUE BREWING CO.

THE FORK, JAN. 26: “TO COMPLAIN OR NOT COMPLAIN”

TRUE TO AN EXTENT

Wow, best The Fork in a while pretty much beginning to end but especially the “Complain or Not Complain” section, which I agree with just about 100%. The idea of “don’t complain food service is tough” is true to an extent, and perhaps more true during the height of the pandemic, but time to put that to rest in my opinion. Especially considering the significant, and now apparently permanent, price increases across the board.

BOB MCCABE

SANTA FE

CORRECTION

Last week’s paper spelled Jacob Brenner’s name wrong in our story about Bread Shop’s new location.

SFR will correct factual errors online and in print. Please let us know if we make a mistake: editor@sfreporter.com or 988-7530.

“Apples to apples; dust to dust.”

at

SANTA FE EAVESDROPPER

Mail letters to PO Box 4910, Santa Fe, NM 87502; or email them to editor@sfreporter.com. Letters (no more than 200 words) should refer to specific articles in the Reporter. Letters will be edited for space and clarity.

JURY WEIGHS WHETHER “COWBOYS FOR TRUMP” BROKE STATE ELECTION LAW BY FAILING TO REGISTER

Tip for jurors: Maybe start by looking at the group’s name.

SUPREME COURT WEIGHS STUDENT LOAN FORGIVENESS

And if it goes down in flames, we’re betting lenders won’t accept thoughts and prayers as payments.

DILBERT CREATOR SCOTT ADAMS DROPPED FROM SOOOOO MANY PAPERS FOLLOWING (ANOTHER) RACIST RANT

Little tip for rich people who’d be fine if they just shut up forever: Be rich and shut up forever.

SANTA FE BITE GETS NEW OWNERS

Just leave the burgers alone. Like, leave them alone.

KOB-TV WEATHERMAN STEVE STUCKER TO RETIRE AFTER MORE THAN THREE DECADES

Heads up to the Channel 4 honchos: Mark Ronchetti might need a job.

FELINES & FRIENDS NONPROFIT SAYS IT IS OVERWHELMED

Was nobody listening to Bob Barker?!

SENATE PASSES GREEN-CHILEAS-STATE-AROMA BILL

Normally we’d dunk on lawmakers for taking up time with something like a smell, but this is IMPORTANT.

READ IT ON SFREPORTER.COM

GIRL SCOUT COOKIES?

Don’t miss last week’s edition of The Fork for a link to local cookie booths: sfreporter.com/food

WE ARE WAY MORE THAN WEDNESDAY HERE ARE A COUPLE OF ONLINE EXCLUSIVES:

SPEAKING OF NEWSLETTERS

Catch up on local, regional and national cannabis news right here: sfreporter.com/cannabis

CHRISTUS St. Vincent is hosting a

CAREER FAIR

Thursday, March 30 10:00 am – 2:00 pm

Vernick Conference Center

455 St. Michaels Drive, Santa Fe, NM 87505

Looking to take your career to the next level? Don’t miss the opportunity to connect face-to-face with managers and explore clinical and non-clinical positions available at CHRISTUS St. Vincent!

CHRISTUS St. Vincent Hospital is a diversified workplace offering a wide variety of opportunities. We are the key to growing your future!

Employment Benefits include:

• Competitive Pay

• Tuition Reimbursement

• Paid Time Off

• Retirement Plan

• Paid Personal Holidays

• Employer Assisted Housing Program

• Paid National Holidays

• Shift Differentials

*Benefits become effective immediately upon hire. Initial on-site interviews will take place so remember to bring a resumé and dress to impress!

NEW MEXICO WILDLIFE CENTER

We welcome Beth Thompson along with Sage, the friendly Bull snake, and Patches, the charming Western Box Turtle. Art from the collection featuring our reptilian friends will also be on display. Presentation is from 1-2 PM.

MARCH 3

1-4 PM Masks required

• Indigenous art from around the world

• In midtown Santa Fe

• Private tours available

• No admission fees

Coe Center

CHRISTUS St. Vincent is compliant with Public Health Orders

Substation Somewhere

BY ANDREW OXFORD oxford@sfreporter.com

The Santa Fe Police Department for years has been casting around for a substation location that would give the agency, with headquarters just south of Airport Road, a bigger presence on the north end of town.

In the mid-1990s, for example, Chief Donald Grady II proposed building several kiosk-style substations. The goal, as he told The Santa Fe New Mexican at the time, was to make filing police reports “easier than going to McDonald’s.”

The department ultimately moved into a spot at Frenchy’s Field and also set up shop in an old firehouse on West Alameda next to Alto Park. Neither is still open today. The old firehouse has been unused for years and the Frenchy’s Field substation—a sort of cabin-looking building in the parking lot—is no longer a police outpost.

But police argue the need is still there, though pinpointing the specifics of “there” requires unraveling what various city officials have said in recent months.

“We’re trying to get a better presence in the downtown area,” Deputy Chief Ben Valdez tells SFR.

The quickest route from Santa Fe Plaza at the heart of downtown to the Santa Fe Police Department is more than a 6-mile drive down Cerrillos Road. To get from the First Judicial District Courthouse to the station is only a little shorter.

The search for a new space may soon be over, though.

The law enforcement agency is aiming to renovate an office space in City Hall and hopes to turn it into a substation by midyear, as the city’s current budget provides about $100,000 for the site. The long-running search for a downtown location has a couple purposes, Valdez says.

One reason is customer service. Following up with an officer or getting a copy of a report can be difficult or at least inconvenient if it requires a trip across town, he says.

“For our customers, that’s difficult,” Valdez adds.

It could also be more efficient for the department to move employees downtown who have to regularly travel to the First Judicial District Court. That’s at least a half-hour round trip from the department’s headquarters.

City leaders recently paved the way for police to set up a substation in the Railyard, too, though officials are sending mixed messages about the plan.

Mayor Alan Webber and the City Council voted last week to change the municipal government’s contract with the Santa Fe Railyard Community Corporation, raising the prospect of installing a cop shop at the old train station.

The city owns the station but has an agreement with the corporation to manage the Railyard. So, the city leases the station back from the corporation for $36,000 a year.

The city is in the middle of renovating the historic train depot—an instantly Instagrammable backdrop for tourists, a gateway to Santa Fe for commuters and a site of interest for rail enthusiasts. While crews finish up the renovation, Terry Lease, the city’s asset development manager, told councilors in a January memo that the longterm goal is to install a place for police in the old train station.

“Once complete, the city would like to make further investments into this building to create a police substation that would serve the Railyard, non-profit and down-

town communities,” Lease wrote.

Christine Robertson, executive director of the Santa Fe Railyard Community Corporation, said the group would welcome a police substation at the campus.

It would be just the latest approach to ramping up security for the Railyard.

About a decade ago, the city paid to hire private security guards to patrol the 50-acre campus to shoo away loiterers and keep an eye on local businesses and the Railyard Park. And over the last year, several shop owners in the area have complained of break-ins.

By changing the city’s contract with the Railyard Community Corporation, the city will no longer need to rent the property back from the nonprofit—which Lease described as a “convoluted, cumbersome” process that also requires the organization to exercise oversight and approval of city development at the site.

The change gives the city government complete control over the depot building. That, in turn, clears the way for a police substation and tourist kiosk (another feature city officials have suggested).

The contract change includes the same deal for the old Warehouse 21 building, too, giving the city more direct control over that property. The building, situated where the railroad tracks cross Paseo de Peralta and neighboring the Railyard Park, formerly housed a well-used youth arts program but has been vacant for several years. While the future of the building is unclear, Lease wrote it needs repairs. Under the contract change, the city can use the building without having to enter into a sublease with the Railyard Community Corporation or rent it to a third party.

Valdez says he requested several months ago for the police department to use the old Warehouse 21 building, but other city officials say they aren’t planning for either the depot or the former arts building to house police officers, after all.

While Lease told councilors part of the reason for rejigging the Railyard contract was to accommodate a police substation there, City Clerk Kristine Mihelcic tells SFR there are no plans to put a substation in the Railyard.

In an email, Mihelcic writes that officials are “exploring other options,” noting the plan to use City Hall. Lease didn’t respond to an email seeking more information.

Officer Celestino Lopez responds to an incident on a snowy morning near downtown.

ANSON STEVENS-BOLLEN

The police formerly used an old firehouse on West Alameda as a substation.

ANDREW OXFORD

Police plan to set up shop in City Hall, yet officials have paved the way to use the historic Santa Fe Depot

FOOD FOTO Contest Contest

SFR’s Food Foto Contest is back!

Whether your favorite images are of finely plated restaurant dishes; homecooked successes; gorgeous ingredients from the garden; or other artful interpretations, we hope you’ll share them with the class.

Two grand prize winners earn $100 cash prizes from our advertising partners, and will be featured in our upcoming Restaurant Issue. No limit on entries per photographer.

$5 entry fee per photo supports journalism at SFR.

ENTRIES ACCEPTED THROUGH MARCH

SFREPORTER.COM/CONTESTS

Ready, Set, Solar

Company lays out plans for commercial energy project in Santa Fe County

BY ANDY LYMAN andylyman@sfreporter.com

Aglobal energy company has taken its first official steps to launch a large commercial solar panel project in Santa Fe County. The company, AES, submitted an application with the county last month, detailing its plans to finish an 800-acre solar project by 2026.

Until now, the details for the planned system on privately-owned land—sandwiched between Eldorado and the San Marcos neighborhood—were limited to the company’s website.

The AES application includes boilerplate documents, such as a warranty deed and letter of consent, but also environmental impact and visual assessment reports that outline how wildlife might be displaced. The documents downplay how much landscape the planned project will block, while addressing long-running concerns neighboring residents have raised about fire suppression.

The county’s Growth Management Department and a land use administrator have reviewed and accepted the application, county Operations Manager Sara Smith tells SFR. The next step, she says, is a review by a county Sustainable Land Development Code hearing officer before consideration by the county Planning Commission, all of which could take at least a couple months.

“Potentially, it could go to the hearing officer in March and the Planning Commission in April,” Smith says.

The code includes a goal to “support

the development and use of sustainable, renewable energy production and distribution infrastructure and reduce dependence on non-renewable energy use,” and a policy to “recruit and incentivize renewable energy-related businesses.”

Specifics included in the company’s application still haven’t eased the minds of some who live nearby.

Selma Eikelenboom-Schieveld, who lives in Rancho San Marcos, sent the county a letter just after AES submitted its application with a long list of concerns and counters to assurances from AES.

“The analysis from the Visual Assessment Report and Environmental Impact Report clearly indicate that the quality of our environment will be severely affected,” Eikelenboom-Schieveld wrote.

“This project will greatly diminish our joy in living here, it will certainly reduce the value of our properties, and endanger the health and wellbeing of both residents and wildlife.”

A major source of consternation for residents is the potential fire risk associated with the giant batteries needed to store the collected energy. According to the conditional-use permit report AES submitted, battery storage, which the company says would fill up to 4 acres of land, will be equipped for fire suppression.

“If a battery fire is initiated, the enclosures planned for this site would release fire suppressant in large concentrations directly into the initiating cell, removing heat and preventing thermal runaway throughout the enclosure,” the report reads.

The battery energy storage system, according to AES, will include batteries, power converters, fiber optic lines and heating and cooling systems, all of which the company admits would create at least some noise. But the company says anything making more than a slight hum would be situated far enough from residential areas to mitigate auditory disturbances.

Opponents of the solar project have also pointed to the wildlife that depend on the privately-owned land. An environmental impact report from AES acknowledges the flora and fauna that have made or could make homes on the land, and lays out plans to limit harm.

“Impacts to wildlife species will be minimized through the implementation of protection measures such as allowing wildlife to leave the work area, checking trenches or excavation for wildlife, complying with speed limits, and following a worker environmental awareness training,” the impact report reads. “Impacts to wildlife from decommissioning activities will be similar to impacts from construction.”

The impact report defends wildlife displacement by noting burrowing owls and prairie dogs could find new homes nearby.

The company also submitted a summary of community meetings AES held before submitting its application that addresses a long list of objections from neighbors, such as worries about blocked views of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. AES in its application packet contends views will only be minimally obstructed because the solar panels would be set back far enough from existing homes and the Turquoise Trail to still see the mountain range.

AES maintains the plot of land is the most suitable spot for the massive project, notably because it’s privately owned and close enough to run transmission lines to Public Service Company of New Mexico’s infrastructure.

Global energy company AES has filed an application for permission to build a commercial solar farm on about 800 acres in Santa Fe County.

When Landlords Make the Laws

Muñoz refused to talk to SFR for this story. He told a reporter who approached him with questions at the Capitol on Monday to make an appointment. He didn’t respond to a subsequent voicemail message or questions sent to him at two different email addresses.

The legislators who double as landlords include Democrats as well as Republicans. Some, including Muñoz, chair committees and in turn have power over how bills flow through the Capitol. Some rent out just a residence or two, like Rep. Derrick Lente, D-Sandia Pueblo. Some lease dozens of units, including Rep. Harry Garcia, a Democrat from Grants.

Understanding how much real estate legislators own, and where, is not exactly easy. SFR combed through the financial disclosures legislators must file each year. As part of these disclosures, lawmakers are required to list any real estate they own in the state besides their primary residence. But they are only required to provide a “general description” of the property they own and list the county where that property is located. The description can be as vague as “rental property,” with no hint of whether it’s a commercial or residential property, a single family home or a sprawling trailer park. While lawmakers are also required to disclose any sources of income over $5,000 a year, such as rent from homes they lease, they may provide few details.

The lawmakers listed in this story were either clear about their holdings in financial disclosures or have property listed in county assessors’ offices. Others may own residential rental properties but are not clear about their holdings. More own commercial properties.

BY ANDREW OXFORD oxford@sfreporter.com

GALLUP—The Chamisal Trailer Park looks a lot like the others around here, with dozens of trailers lined up in rows along a road on the outskirts of town.

Residents SFR interviewed had only a few complaints. They say no one has done anything about junk cars, for example, or that snow doesn’t get plowed often. A local ordinance says city officials should inspect every mobile home park in this city of about 20,000 on the edge of the Navajo Nation twice a year to ensure landlords are keeping the properties up to code. But the city’s spokesman tells SFR no one conducts those inspections anymore.

Still, rent hasn’t gone up much over the years and everyone seems to know the

landlord by first name—George.

George Muñoz, that is, the Democratic chairman of the powerful state Senate Finance Committee, which wields tremendous power over New Mexico’s budget.

SFR found about a dozen legislators are also landlords, like Muñoz, who owns this mobile home park in Gallup and another nearby. While few lawmakers are known to be renters themselves, “landlord” appears to be one of the most common jobs among New Mexico legislators.

Some who work on housing issues at the Capitol say the representation of landlords and the relatively few renters among lawmakers creates a sort of bias in the Legislature, making it all the harder to pass laws that could limit rent increases or provide protections for tenants against unscrupulous property owners.

“I wish I could say this was a partisan issue but it isn’t,” says Rep. Angelica Rubio, a Democrat from Las Cruces sponsoring a bill to bolster tenant protections. “That’s our biggest challenge. We have good public policy but there’s a lot at stake for some making the decisions.”

Not all legislators who double as landlords are fighting against the ideas; some have voted for bills that could take money out of their own pockets. Yet, they aren’t the only ones representing landlords at the Roundhouse. Several trade groups have a small army of lobbyists pushing the views of landlords, realtors and mobile home park owners.

With just a couple weeks left before the session ends on March 18, several bills to bolster tenant protections are dead or face uncertain futures, suggesting lawmakers are again putting the issue in the backseat.

Meanwhile, about 30% of homes in New Mexico are occupied by renters, according to the US Census. It’s harder to calculate with certainty how many lawmakers are tenants. By all accounts, though, it’s not a big caucus.

“I’m one of a few people who still rents. I’ve been renting my whole life. I like being a renter,” Rubio says.

But at the Capitol, Rubio finds a certain perception of tenants.

“There’s just this idea of the type of person that rents and so it’s a really challenging issue,” she says.

Tenant protections have long struggled to gain traction at the state Capitol. In 1991, for example, lawmakers voted to bar cities, counties and towns from limiting rent increases, ensuring no community could enact rent control.

Senate Bill 99, a proposal this year to repeal that law and let local governments

With property owners well represented among lawmakers, tenant protections sputter at the Capitol

adopt rent control policies, was shot down in the first weeks of the session. The bill’s backers argued it would have merely given local governments one more option for responding to a worsening, statewide housing crisis. Communities could adopt rent control policies, or not.

The Senate Health & Public Affairs Committee voted to block the bill in a hearing last month. Committee members acknowledged the state’s rising rents and rising number of unsheltered people, but argued that allowing local communities to limit rent increases wouldn’t help the problem.

“We would have a patchwork quilt of policies around the state,” Chairman Gerald Ortiz y Pino, a Democrat from Albuquerque, told the committee as he joined Republicans in blocking the bill.

and that she looked forward to putting a new focus and new funding into fighting homelessness.

Proponents of tenant protections argue the state needs to both build new housing and prevent people who already have homes from ending up on the streets because of skyrocketing rents.

Serge Martinez likens the situation to a common saying used by an arborist he knows: The best time to plant a tree is five years ago and the second best time is right now. The same goes for housing, argues Martinez, associate dean of experiential learning at the University of New Mexico School of Law and an advocate for tenants’ rights.

Putting more money into new housing will be great for the people who can move into those homes when they are constructed years from now. In the meantime, tenants need help, he says.

“There is no silver bullet. There is no one thing that’s going to automatically fix it. These are all parts of the puzzle,” Martinez says.

Martinez, who is also the president of Amparo, a housing assistance and eviction prevention program in Albuquerque, has been pushing for House Bill 6—a package of tenant protections.

Similar proposals have see-sawed through several iterations over the last few sessions as backers have negotiated changes they hope will get the measure through the Legislature and on to the governor’s desk. At perhaps its most ambitious, the bill would have prohibited landlords from refusing to take housing vouchers, removing a major obstacle for those who manage to obtain much-sought assistance.

That provision is gone, though.

LEGISLATORS AND LANDLORDS

SFR reviewed the financial disclosures filed by legislators and noted the lawmakers who reported owning residential rentals.

Rep. Bobby Gonzales (D-Taos)

Seven residential rentals and seven commercial rental properties

Sen. George Muñoz (D-Gallup) Real estate

Sen. Steven Neville (R-Farmington) Rental properties

Sen. William Soules (D-Las Cruces) Rental property, residential

Sen. Pat Woods (R-Grady) Rental property

Rep. Art De La Cruz (D-Albuquerque)

Rep. Harry Garcia (D-Grants)

Four rental properties

10 commercial properties; 1,330-acre ranch; 11 houses; eight vacant lots; one mobile home park and one house

Only two members—Democratic Sens. Brenda McKenna and Antoinette Sedillo Lopez—voted against tabling the measure.

Ortiz y Pino argued the solution to rising rents and rising homelessness will involve putting more money into building homes.

“And we have money,” he told the committee.

A budget approved by the House and now wending through the Senate would put millions of dollars from the state’s general fund into residential housing. And it would use $2 million from a settlement with drug companies to house people with opioid use disorders.

There’s interest from the top floor of the Capitol, too.

In her inaugural address, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said that “building serious momentum on affordable housing can be a hallmark of the next four years”

This year, the bill would change the timeline for landlords to file for eviction when a tenant is late on rent. Instead of being able to file only three days after providing a tenant notice of a missed payment, a landlord could only go to court after 11 days.

Supporters argue the bill would also better protect tenants from retaliation by landlords for raising concerns about poor maintenance or other problems with a property.

The bill passed the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee last week along party lines—with Democrats voting in favor and Republicans in opposition— and is awaiting a hearing in front of the House Judiciary Committee.

Some lawmakers have been blunt that their experiences as landlords inform their view of the issue.

Garcia, the Democratic legislator from CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

Rep. T Ryan Lane (R-Aztec)

Rep. Derrick Lente (D-Sandia Pueblo)

Single family rental

Townhome rental

Rep. Luis Terrazas (R-Silver City) Residential rental

Sen. Antoinette Sedillo Lopez (D-Albuquerque)

Four rental properties

We have good public policy but there’s a lot at stake for some making the decisions.

-Rep. Angelica Rubio, D-Las Cruces

Grants, voted against a version of the bill last year, citing his experience as a landlord during a debate over the measure. According to his financial disclosure, Garcia owns several houses and a mobile home park in Cibola County. He says he tries to be understanding of tenants, particularly if one loses a job and can’t pay rent. But he doesn’t like the idea of the Legislature imposing limits on rent or some other rules on landlords.

“That’s not fair to the people who have to pay the bills,” he says, referring to landlords with mortgages and repairs to cover.

Rubio, though, is worried about the renters who may end up with an eviction on their records forever—following them around as they are required to disclose it on future rental applications.

While a previous iteration of HB6 passed the House last year, Rubio says it’s unclear if it can make it through the Senate this session. Other housing legislation has already sputtered there.

Senate Bill 298 would update the Mobile Home Park Act, which covers New Mexicans who own their own mobile home but lease the space where it is parked. The bill would limit rent increases in mobile home parks and require owners to notify residents before selling a park. Residents would also be given a chance to make an offer for a park before any sale is finalized— what’s known as a “right of first refusal” in other states that have adopted similar laws.

Maria Griego, a staff attorney working on the legislation at the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty, says the protections are key because mobile home parks provide a crucial segment of affordable housing in the state.

“It’s often a very attractive option for retired New Mexicans who live on a fixed income, so they really need that predictability,” she says of the limit on rent

RENTER PROTECTION PROPOSALS

Lawmakers have introduced several bills to bolster tenant protections. Here’s where those bills stand now, about two weeks before the session ends. None of the bills has passed a floor vote in either chamber.

SENATE BILL 99

Status: Dead

Local governments are currently barred from enacting rent control policies. This proposal would have changed that by allowing cities, towns and counties to limit rent increases.

SENATE BILL 298

Status: In committee

This bill would limit rent increases for New Mexicans who live in mobile home parks. It would also require park owners to give residents advance notice if the park is to be sold.

HOUSE BILL 6

Status: In committee

Landlords would have to give residents 11 days, instead of three, before filing for eviction due to unpaid rent. The bill would also clarify protections for renters against retaliation when lodging complaints about poorly maintained properties.

SENATE BILL 375

Status: In committee

Rent increases would be limited to 5% a year plus inflation up to a total of 10%.

HOUSE BILL 414

Status: In committee

New Mexico would get a Department of Housing to coordinate housing policy under this bill.

increases that the proposed law would impose.

If a property owner raises rent drastically or an investor swoops in to buy a park and force out the residents, it can be a devastating financial blow, Griego adds.

“It’s very difficult for tenants to move their homes out of their parks. It’s extremely cost prohibitive,” she tells SFR. “They often have to leave their home, and what we see is the parks will step in and offer to buy it and they’ll offer pennies on the dollar. It makes them lose their most valuable asset.”

The bill didn’t even get a vote during its first hearing in front of Senate Health & Public Affairs—the same committee that killed the rent control legislation. Instead, Ortiz y Pino asked one of the bill’s sponsors, Sen. Bill O’Neill, D-Albuquerque, to work with opponents on possible changes to the bill. The legislation is not scheduled for another hearing.

Another piece of legislation, Senate Bill 375, would limit rent increases to no more than 5% a year plus inflation. Sponsored by McKenna, a Democrat from Albuquerque, it is also awaiting a hearing in the Health & Public Affairs Committee.

Backers of tenants’ rights are a little more optimistic about House Bill 414, which would create a state department of housing to coordinate policy and assistance.

“It’s coming together as a good conversation,” says Rep. Andrea Romero, a Democrat from Santa Fe cosponsoring the measure.

Romero acknowledges it’s a bit late in the session for the bill to get a first hearing in front of a committee. But the lawmaker says she is finding more interest in the issue of housing this year.

“The feedback is a bit different. It’s not just ‘no,’” she says.

A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, a Santa Fe Democrat

who has disclosed owning commercial property in the city, says the lawmaker supports tenant protections and argues it’s too soon to count anything out.

Still, while there is no big-spending advocacy group for renters, the organizations lining up to oppose some of these bills are formidable.

The New Mexico Association of Realtors, for example, has lobbied against rent control. It spent nearly $500,000 during the last election cycle, including on donations to lawmakers. The New Mexico Manufactured Housing Association, which is lobbying against the bill to expand protections for mobile home park residents, gave tens of thousands of dollars to candidates and political committees last year. And one of the lobbyists for the Apartment Association of New Mexico–which has also lobbied against rent control–gave $30,000 to legislators’ campaigns in the last election. This spending has flowed to Republicans and Democrats, but particularly to legislative leaders who can control which bills get a vote. So far this year, the association has also reported spending more than $500 on a dinner for leaders in the Senate.Meanwhile, the New Mexico Association of Realtors was a major donor to the governor’s inaugural committee.

Even if these pieces of legislation are moving slowly or not at all, housing dominates conversations at the Capitol in a way that the issue hasn’t in years.

“Everyone knows that there is a housing crisis. Everyone is aware rents are skyrocketing, people are becoming unhoused at a high rate. It’s heartening to see people are paying attention,” Martinez, the UNM professor, says.

Much of that is due to the COVID-19 pandemic, says Rubio.

In early 2020, officials recognized it was impossible to ask people to stay safe

at home and curb the spread of the disease if many New Mexicans had no home. The New Mexico Supreme Court put a moratorium on evictions at the time. And while that policy has ended and assistance programs have scaled back, the pandemic has still forced even reluctant lawmakers to

grapple with housing policy.

Backers of bills like HB6 argue the Legislature should take the conversation spurred by the pandemic and use it to prepare housing policies that can help New Mexicans weather the current crisis as well as future housing crises.

“We were already experiencing the housing crisis before the pandemic. What we are trying to say within our legislation is that the pandemic isn’t over and there will be challenges we face in the future,” says Rubio. “There will be changes in the market, changes in our economy. There’s all these different factors that we as consumers don’t have control over. The protections we are trying to implement won’t solve all the problems but it can provide some longterm stability for families.”

But lobbyists aren’t spending tens of thousands of dollars a year to influence lawmakers on behalf of renters. The voices of landlords are often so much louder than the voices of renters at the Legislature, Martinez says. That so many legislators are also landlords is somewhat inevitable, too, he adds.

WILL 2023 BE THE YEAR YOU GO SOLAR & LOCK IN ENERGY SAVINGS?

Legislators are unpaid, making it hard for anyone who doesn’t have a flexible job or some passive stream of income to run for a seat, Martinez notes.

A proposed constitutional amendment wending through the Legislature would give voters a choice of paying lawmakers in the future and potentially—as proponents argue—make it possible for more New Mexicans without means to run for seats at the Roundhouse. The current setup presents a challenge for many to take two months off for the legislative session and still pay rent.

“If you’re going to be a legislator and go up to Santa Fe for 30 days or 60 days, you can’t have a 9-to-5 job. You need a source of income,” Martinez says.

While some lawmakers hold down fulltime jobs (there is a glut of lawyers at the Capitol), there are also many who are retired or rely on income from sources like real estate. The result, as Martinez sees it: “We’re narrowly focused on landlords as if the renters don’t matter. Because of the prevalence of pro-landlord lobbyists and advocates, everything gets spun this way.”

State Sen. George Muñoz owns the Chamisal Trailer Park in Gallup. The Democrat is one of several lawmakers who are also landlords.

We’re narrowly focused on landlords as if the renters don’t matter.

-Serge Martinez, president,

Amparo housing assistance and eviction prevention program

PABLO SÁINZ-VILLEGAS

Soul of Spanish Guitar

Saturday, March 18 I 7:30 pm I Lensic Performing Arts Center

SPECIAL EVENT

Wine Tasting with Pablo Sáinz-Villegas

Friday, Mar 17 | 3:30-5:00 pm | VARA Vinoteca

$90

Taste the richness of Spanish terroir with guitarist (and wine connoisseur) Pablo Sáinz-Villegas, who will bring some of his favorite selections for you to sample and enjoy.

Presented through the generosity of Mary and Timothy Mitchell, Leslie Jones and Paul Zeller, Jane and John Bagwell, and Heritage Hotels and Resorts

Partially funded by the County of Santa Fe Lodgers’ Tax

22–23 Season Sponsors: Ann Murphy Daily and William W. Daily; Leah Gordon

EXHIBITION WED/1

DEMONSTRABLE

Native arts have a huge role around here, and most everyone can agree their inter-generational place in our homes, our streets, our galleries and our institutions is essential and amazing. Despite a countless number of expert artists, craftspeople, etc. operating throughout all corners of our region, we don’t always know how the sausage gets made, so to speak. Enter Acoma artist Frederica Antonio and her upcoming pottery demo event at the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture. Legend has it Antonio was inspired by her mother-in-law, Mildred, to get into the hand-coiled/hand-painted pottery game. With an eye toward intricate design and a knack for technical brilliance, Antonio made a name for herself, and now she’ll show you how she goes about it. Is “fascinating” a strong enough word? (Alex De Vore)

Frederica Antonio Pottery Demonstration: Dazzle the Eye: 1-3 pm Wednesday, March 1. Free with admission Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, 710 Camino Lejo (505) 476-1269

COMEDY FRI/3

OH, DEMETRI

It’s honestly kind of shocking that comic Demetri Martin’s upcoming stop at the Lensic Performing Arts Center hadn’t completely sold out at the time of this writing, but that just means comedy fans have an opportunity to see one of the funniest people working today. Martin is a nerdy joke trailblazer—which is meant as a compliment—but kind of like a spiritual successor to the likes of Mitch Hedberg and Emo Philips. He’s a bit of a visual artist, too, and a talented musician and creator of varied shows that speak to those who fancy themselves part of the intelligentsia, fans of deadpan excellence and/or satire and pretty much anyone else who likes thoughtful comedy. Whether you know him from appearances on Comedy Central, shows like New Girl or elsewhere, you’re likely gonna want to go. And if you don’t know the guy and just like laughing...well, it’ll be worth it.

(ADV)

Demetri Martin: The Joke Machine: 7:30 pm Friday, March 3. $35-$149. Lensic Performing Arts Center 211 W San Francisco St., (505) 988-1234

THEATER FRI/3-SUN/5

LOVE STINKS

Theater troupe Tri-M Productions returns after successful runs of Spring Awakening and A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum with I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, playwright Joe DiPietro’s 1996 musical comedy take on all things love. Across three couples, viewers will get an incisive, biting and ultimately hopeful view of modern romance in all its forms, and though Tri-M Artistic Director Marilyn Barnes tells SFR the show required a bit of updating to rework some problematic ’90s content, she ultimately finds the show’s themes universal and enduring. “It just seems like every scene, practically every line...either you laugh or you laugh ruefully,” Barnes tells SFR, “because you’ve gone through it.” Barnes also says the show might be smaller than we’ve seen recently from Tri-M, but that the more focused cast is a real winner. “I think these people are kind of brilliant,” she adds. (ADV)

I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change: 7 pm Friday, March 3; 2 pm and 7 pm Saturday, March 4; 2 pm Sunday March 5 $30-$40. The Actors Lab, 1213 Parkway Drive, trimsantafe.org

Bowerbirds

Artists as collectors at Pie Projects’ new exhibit

Your first moments inside Dana Newmann and Dana Hart-Stone’s joint exhibition at Pie Projects may feel like you’ve entered a kaleidoscope pointed at an antique scrapbook. But the more time you take with A State of Newness, the more patterns start to emerge—both within each piece and between the two Danas.

Newmann, a Santa Fe local whose work ranges from photo collages to curiosity cabinets, builds pieces around pre-established themes such as “surrealist wonders” or “dangerous possibilities.” Hart-Stone takes a more retrospective approach to his largescale collages, noting that, “I realized the plaid [in my piece ‘The Life and Times of Plaid’] was only the entry point into a study of socioeconomic status, of race, of gender, of place. That sort of snuck up on me.”

That same fabric spotlighted in HartStone’s enormous collage points to another connection between the artists: a shared interest in textiles. Newmann often physically interweaves photographs in her pieces, citing Japanese fabrics as a source of inspiration.

“If you look at kimono and you study one element really thoroughly, you begin to see how they use the drama of empty space versus full space,” she observes.

Hart-Stone similarly uses scale and repetition to consciously evoke a connection to cloth.

“There’s a double read where people see the work from a distance and it reads as a textile,” he explains. “These really rich patterns and colors do that.”

And both artists are ultimately united by a passion for assemblage.

“I’m endlessly fascinated with the stories of objects that were scattered around—old leather shoes, graniteware, enamel pans… we don’t know the whole story and that’s always fascinated me,” Hart-Stone confesses.

Newmann, meanwhile, highlights the same drive in more zoological terms.

“There is a quality of calmness that comes over one when you make a connection between an object you’re very familiar with and one that you’ve never seen before, and that particular feeling has a lot to do with why I love to put things together,” she says. “On the whole, it’s humans who want to bring things together. Humans and bowerbirds.”

Maybe that’s why Newmann and HartStone’s work scratches a particular animal itch. It gets at the primal satisfaction of a truly beautiful collection. (Siena Sofia Bergt)

STATE OF NEWNESS OPENING

3:30 pm Saturday, March 4. Free Pie Projects, 924B Shoofly St. (505) 372-7681

ART OPENING SAT/4

THE CALENDAR

BLAIR: TECHNICOLOR GLASSES

Iconik Coffee Roasters

Want to see your event listed here?

We’d love to hear from you! Send notices via email to calendar@sfreporter.com.

Make sure you include all the pertinent details such as location, time, price and so forth. It helps us out greatly.

Submission doesn’t guarantee inclusion.

ONGOING

ART

ANNUAL MEMBERS’ SHOW

Foto Forum Santa Fe

1714 Paseo de Peralta (505) 470-2582

More than 50 local photogs. Noon-5 pm, Thurs-Fri; 12:30-5 pm, Tues, free

AMALGAMATION: BEHIND THE STUDIO DOOR

Vital Spaces Midtown Annex

1600 St. Michael’s Drive vitalspaces.org

Printmaker David-Alexander

Hubbard Sloan, painter Cristina González and many more.

1-5 pm, Tues-Sun, free

ARRIVALS 2023

form & concept

435 S Guadalupe St. (505) 216-1256

A sneak peek at the gallery’s upcoming exhibitions, ranging from ceramics to textiles.

10 am-5 pm, Tues-Sat, free

ATTASALINA: FREED FROM RAGE AND SORROW

Aurelia Gallery

414 Canyon Road (505) 501-2915

Twenty years of black-and-white autobiographical photography, printed using various techniques.

11 am-5 pm, Mon-Fri; Noon-5 pm, Sat-Sun, free

BEVERLY MCIVER: RETROSPECTIVE

Turner Carroll Gallery

725 Canyon Road (505) 986-9800

Vulnerable, empathetic portraits.

10 am-6 pm, Sat-Thurs;

10 am-7 pm, Fri, free

1600 Lena St. (505) 428-0996

Vibrant acrylic portraits of women.

7:30 am-5 pm, free

BRENDA BIONDO: PAPER SKIES

Assaf-Plotek Fine Art

102 W San Francisco St., #6 (505) 690-4825

Abstract geometric photography. by appointment, free

CALL FOR ENTRIES: MINIPRINT! Online

bit.ly/3XScgEF

Submit hand-pulled prints for Hecho a Mano’s spring juried show.

CARLOS CANUL: BETWEEN WORLDS

Strata Gallery

418 Cerrillos Road (505) 780-5403

Darkly surreal landscapes. Masks required.

10 am-5 pm, Tues-Sat, free

CARRIED IMPRESSIONS:

LITHOGRAPHS AND MONOPRINTS

Gerald Peters Contemporary

1011 Paseo de Peralta (505) 954-5700

Archiving 1960s print works.

10 am-5 pm, Tues-Sat, free

EBENDORF AND THE USUAL SUSPECTS form & concept

435 S Guadalupe St. (505) 216-1256

Selections from famed jeweler Robert Ebendorf’s career, alongside pieces by his students and mentors.

10 am-5 pm, Tues-Sat, free

ENCHANTED LAND

Cafe Pasqual’s Gallery

103 E Water St., Second Floor (505) 983-9340

A group show featuring carved figures, photos, watercolors and more.

10 am-5 pm, free

FOTO CUBA

Artes de Cuba

1700 A Lena St. (505) 303-3138

Photographing life on the island.

10 am-4 pm, Tues-Sat, free

FRANCIS DIFRONZO: PROOF OF LIFE PART 3

Evoke Contemporary 550 S. Guadalupe St. (505) 995-9902

Paintings of the local landscape combining nostalgia and subtle unease.

10 am-5 pm, Mon-Sat, free

IMMORTAL

Santa Fe Community College

6401 Richards Ave. (505) 428-1000

Honoring recently deceased ceramicists.

8 am-5 pm, Mon-Fri, free

INSIDE OUT: THE MENAGERIE ESCAPES

Axle Contemporary Visit axleart.com for daily location (505) 670-5854

Shakti Kroopkin presents chromatic and symbolic abstracts.

10 am-4 pm, Tues-Thurs, Sat-Sun;

10 am-7 pm, Fri; free

INVENTORY OF REFLECTION:

C ALEX CLARK

form & concept

435 S Guadalupe St. (505) 216-1256

Holograms embedded into glass.

10 am-5 pm, Tues-Sat, free

JAKE TRUJILLO: CONTEMPORARY LANDSCAPES

Sun & Dust

616 Canyon Road, (603) 801-5732

Neon clouds over tonalist local vistas.

11 am-6 pm, Tues-Sat; Noon-5 pm, Sun-Mon, free

KAREN HAMPTON: DOTS IN THE UNIVERSE

Kouri + Corrao Gallery

3213 Calle Marie, (505) 820-1888

Textiles blending abstract chromatic patterns with folk influences.

Noon-5 pm, Tues-Sat, free MOVING IMAGE FILM CO-OP

No Name Cinema

2013 Piñon st., nonamecinema.org

Ephemera from Santa Fe’s 197172 DIY film scene. During events or by appt., free NMSA PRESENTS: CONVERGENCES

New Mexico School for the Arts

500 Montezuma Ave., Ste. 200 (505) 310-4194

Students share poems alongside responding visual artworks.

8 am-5 pm, Mon-Fri, free NOW AND THEN

Susan Eddings Pérez Galley

717 Canyon Road, (505) 477-4ART

Sue Llewellyn’s final large-scale paintings.

10 am-5 pm, Sat-Thurs;

10 am-7 pm, Fri, free PEDRO REYES: DIRECT ACTION

SITE Santa Fe

1606 Paseo de Peralta (505) 989-1199

Multimedia sculptures advocating for disarmament.

10 am-5 pm, Sat-Mon, Thurs;

10 am-7 pm, Fri, free

The Best of Santa Fe ballot nomination period ends March 15 at www.vote.sfreporter.com

The latest ledger pieces from Terran Last Gun (Piikani Nation)—on display this week in his self-titled show at Hecho Gallery—wink at the history of pop art.

THE CALENDAR

PRESTON SINGLETARY AND JODY NARANJO

Blue Rain Gallery

544 S Guadalupe St. (505) 954-9902

Glass-blowing featuring Northwest Indigenous designs.

10 am-6 pm, Mon-Fri;

9 am-5 pm, Sat, free

RESONANCES

Currents 826

826 Canyon Road (505) 772-0953

Southwestern artists experiment with futuristic techniques.

11 am-4 pm, Fri-Sun, free SANTA FE 2023

PHOTOGRAPHY AWARD

Online fotoforumsantafe.com/award

Share your best snaps by March 5 to win a show at Foto Forum.

$35-$45

SEVEN CONTEMPLATIONS

CONTAINER

1226 Flagman Way (505) 995-0012

Large-scale installations honoring the cycles of life.

11 am-5 pm, Tues-Sun, free

SFR FOOD FOTO CONTEST

Online sfreporter.com/contests

Send us your most mouthwatering photos by March 28 for glory and a possible cash prize.

$5

SHADOWS AND LIGHT

ViVO Contemporary

725 Canyon Road (505) 982-1320

Exploring the concept of chiaroscuro on paper, canvas and other media.

10 am-5 pm, free

SOFT

Smoke the Moon

616 1/2 Canyon Road smokethemoon.com

Contemporary artists share multidisciplinary takes on the word “soft.”

Noon-4 pm, Wed-Sun, free

SPONTANEOUS INSPIRATION

Aurelia Gallery

414 Canyon Road (505) 501-2915

Abstract paintings probing the aesthetics of decay.

11 am-5 pm, Mon-Fri; Noon-5 pm, Sat-Sun, free

STARR HARDRIDGE:

RENEWAL

Blue Rain Gallery

544 S Guadalupe St. (505) 954-9902

Pointillism meets southeastern woodland imagery.

10 am-6 pm, Mon-Fri;

9 am-5 pm, Sat, free

STILL BEAUTY

Obscura Gallery

1405 Paseo de Peralta (505) 577-6708

Photographing the quiet, short days of winter.

11 am-5 pm, free

TIMELESS | RANDALL REID

Nüart Gallery

670 Canyon Road (505) 988-3888

Sculptural mixed-media pieces exploring memory.

10 am-5 pm, free

WES MILLS: DRAWINGS

5. Gallery

2351 Fox Road, Ste. 700 (505) 257-8417

New works on paper.

Noon-5 pm, Thurs-Sat, free

WINTER FESTIVAL PART ONE

LewAllen Galleries

1613 Paseo de Peralta (505) 988-3250

Closing out the exhibition of abstract painters.

10 am-6 pm, Mon-Fri;

10 am-5 pm, Sat, free

WINTER FESTIVAL PART

TWO

LewAllen Galleries

1613 Paseo de Peralta, (505) 988-3250

The group show’s new iteration turns the focus onto representational artists.

10 am-6 pm, Mon-Fri;

10 am-5 pm, Sat, free

WINTER GROUP EXHIBITION

Charlotte Jackson Fine Art

554 S Guadalupe St. (505) 989-8688

Architectural mixed media pieces lit by pops of primary colors.

10 am-5:30 pm, Tues-Fri;

10 am-5 pm, Sat, free

WINTER GROUP SHOW

Chiaroscuro Contemporary Art

558 Canyon Road (505) 992-0711

Sculpture, photos and more.

10 am-5 pm, Tues-Sat, free

YOUNG CURATORS PRESENT:

BREAKING CHAINS

SITE Santa Fe

1606 Paseo de Peralta (505) 989-1199

An exhibition curated by local teens exploring growth, healing and intergenerational trauma.

10 am-5 pm, Thurs, Sat-Mon;

10 am-7 pm, Fri, free

FOOD

RESTAURANT WEEK

Various locations

nmrestaurantweek.com

More than 30 eateries offer prix fixe lunch and dinner menus. There are only a few days left, so go grab those fancy eats while you can.

$20-$65

WED/1

BOOKS/LECTURES

JACINTA HART KEHOE: MOUNTAIN LION RISES

Vista Grande Public Library

14 Avenida Torreon, Eldorado (5050 466-7323

The local author reads from her memoir of loss, grief and healing.

7 pm, free

POTTERY DEMONSTRATION: DAZZLE THE EYE Museum of Indian Arts & Culture

710 Camino Lejo, (505) 476-1269

Frederica Antonio (Acoma) pulls back the curtain on the creation process behind her colorful hand-coiled pots. (See SFR Picks, page 17) 1-3 pm, free

EVENTS

BILINGUAL BOOKS AND BABIES

Santa Fe Public Library

Main Branch

145 Washington Ave. (505) 955-6780

Little ones learning language sounds through music.

10-10:30 am, free

GEEKS WHO DRINK

Second Street Brewery (Railyard)

1607 Paseo de Peralta (505) 989-3278

Don’t call it trivia.

8-10 pm, free

HISTORY CHAT

35 Degrees North

60 E San Francisco St. (505) 629-3538

Tour guide Christian Saiia invites locals to discuss geo-politics, colonization and more.

Noon-2 pm, free

OMICRON BOOSTER CLINIC

Santa Fe Indigenous Center

1420 Cerrillos Road (505) 660-4210

Get vaccinated for the most common new COVID variant. Walk-ins accepted.

11 am-2:30 pm, free

OPEN MIC COMEDY

Chile Line Brewery

204 N Guadalupe St. (505) 982-8474

Wayward Comedy welcomes you to the stage weekly.

8-10 pm, free

ORIENTATION FOR VOLUNTEER GARDENERS

Santa Fe Botanical Garden

715 Camino Lejo, (505) 471-9103

Go online at bit.ly/3kmUo6m to fill out an application, then swing by this training session to become a garden volunteer.

9-10 am, free

PLAY PICHENOTTE!

Santa Fe Children's Museum

1050 Old Pecos Trail (505) 989-8359

Apparently disk flicking is a good precursor to ball throwing, motor skill development-wise.

4-6 pm, free

SING ALONG WITH TEACHER B

Railyard Park Community Room

701 Callejon St., (505) 316-3596

Queen Bee Music Association invites kids up to age 5 to jam.

10 am, free

WEE WEDNESDAYS

Santa Fe Children's Museum

1050 Old Pecos Trail (505) 989-8359

Themed storytime for tots.

10:30-11:30 am, free

FILM

GUARDIANS OF THE GREATER GILA: NO FOOLS GOLD (SCREENING AND Q&A)

Violet Crown Cinema

1606 Alcaldesa St. (505) 216-5678

WildEarth Guardians presents the micro-documentary on Mogollon, followed by a conversation with its stars.

6 pm, $10 suggested

CONTINUED ON PAGE 21

Now that it’s 100 years old (older by a bit, actually), the Santa Fe Playhouse sure seems to be taking some big swings. Case in point? An upcoming production of The Baby Monitor by playwright David Stallings. A finalist for the 2014 National New Play Network, Monitor finds parents Damon and Phillip navigating the world with their young child, who was born with the help of surrogate Soledad, played by Orange is the New Black star Laura Gómez—for whom Stallings originally wrote the character. As their child grows, Soledad takes on the role of nanny and begins to develop feelings about her friends’ abilities, her place in the family and so on. By all accounts, it’s a complex tale of interpersonal relationships and the power of family, be it given or chosen. The show also marks the first time Gómez has been able to tackle Soledad. As such, we spoke with her in the lead-up to the first week of performances

(7:30 pm Thursday, March 2 and Friday, March 3; 2 pm and 7 pm Sunday, March 4. $15-75, Santa Fe Playhouse, 142 E De Vargas St., (505) 988-4262) to get her insight. This interview has been edited for space and clarity. (Alex

De Vore)

I understand this role was written specifically for you some years ago, but this is the first time you’ll be able to perform it. Can you speak to why you’ve kept the hope alive?

Well, it’s a very easy answer—because David Stallings’ writing is absolutely beautiful, nuanced and detailed. I loved the play from the get-go. It was always circumstantial obstacles that prevented me from doing it in the past on the stage. It was always with regret that I had to turn it down: I was out of the country or I was shooting or I was working on Orange is the New Black and my schedule was very complicated. Yet, both the character and the play always felt important.

I know David from New York, too, so there’s a personal connection and we knew each other’s work. Plus, his partner Antonio...we actually know each other

from Santo Domingo, and the fact that this character is Dominican and David plays so much with race and class...aside from the subjects of marriage and surrogacy, there are all these elements of living through his writing.

How are you building the role, particularly knowing it was written for you? The character is Dominican, and you’re Dominican—does that bring any particular thrill or challenge to what you’re hoping to portray?

More than a thrill or a challenge, I find it a pleasure to see it being cast so truthfully. It’s a delight as an actor to be able to know you can bring something to the table because your culture or your experience can enrich the character. [The Playhouse has] made an extra effort to cast this truthfully, whether it’s Dominican or Latina in a way that can honor a Dominican person, and I respect that. It made it every enticing, and I understand this character.

My experiences are not similar at all to the character, but they surround me, and I’ve lived through them in different ways. We’ve done a lot of table work during rehearsals and had discussions about how we relate to the characters. We’re talking about an interracial couple and a Dominican nanny, you have those elements that, specifically during the Trump era, makes it more complex. My character is so nuanced, and for me, bringing being Dominican to the table...the character differs from me in the way they experience the world or their circumstances, but I’m interested in the world and its systems.

What makes you want to keep a toehold in smaller community theaters like the Santa Fe Playhouse?

In this particular case, this is a play I read when I was living in New York, and it followed me a little bit. Secondly, it’s due to where I am in my life, which is exploring things not just because of what it gives me professionally, but what it gives me on a personal level; things that take me out of being typecast, which is something the Hollywood industry does a lot. I’ve been in two movies recently... that were risks on my part because I was getting hurt on the hamster wheel of Hollywood. But I was getting offered things about being in prison, being a maid, and I’m kind of done with that. I say I don’t mind waiting—I’ll do things that fulfill me. And to be honest, the idea of being in Santa Fe for two months, it wasn’t too bad for sealing my decision. It had to do with my desire to be in nature, and it has surpassed my expectations. I’m living in the Dominican Republic after 20 years in New York, and I think New York was such a rush that now I’m going for peaceful—the beach in the Dominican Republic, the mountains in Santa Fe.

With Actor Laura Gómez

JOCHY CAMPUSANO

THE CALENDAR ENTER EVENTS AT SFREPORTER.COM/ CAL

MUSIC

INSTRUMENTAL JAZZ JAM

Club Legato

125 E Palace Ave. (505) 988-9232

You bring the instruments, they'll provide the suspended sevenths.

6 pm, free

LALIAS AND THEO KRANTZ

Jean Cocteau Cinema

418 Montezuma Ave. (505) 466-5528

Dark ambient noir soundscapes, spoken word and visuals.

7-9 pm, $15-$40

OSCAR BUTLER

Cowgirl

319 S Guadalupe St. (505) 982-2565

Easy listening covers and singer-songwriter originals.

4-6 pm, free

WORKSHOP

POI EXPLORATION WITH ELI

Wise Fool New Mexico

1131 Siler Road, (505) 992-2588

Get those fiery poles a-spinnin'.

7-8:30 pm, $23-$168

SOLDIER SONGS AND VOICES

The Candyman Strings & Things

851 St Michaels Drive (505) 983-5906

All vets are welcome to play and explore songwriting as post-conflict care. Instruments provided.

5-7 pm, free

THU/2

BOOKS/LECTURES

ARTIST TALK: ATTASALINA

Aurelia Gallery

414 Canyon Road (505) 501-2915

Discussing 20 years of blackand-white autobiographical photography.

5-6:30 pm, free EVENTS

2023 SENIOR LIFESTYLE

EXPO

Santa Fe Farmers Market Pavilion

1607 Paseo de Peralta (505) 988-3279

Health screenings, seminars, product samplings and more for local seniors.

9 am-3 pm, free

AAMODT SETTLEMENT AND CONSTRUCTION UPDATE

Pojoaque Valley High School

1574 State Road 502 W, Pojoaque (929) 276-0073 x 408730655#

Rep. Andrea Romero moderates a discussion about the current state of Pojoaque-area water rights.

5:30-7:30 pm, free

ADULTI-VERSE

Meow Wolf

1352 Rufina Circle

(505) 395-6369

Check out the corporation's latest room updates—no kids allowed.

6 pm, $35

CHESS AND JAZZ CLUB

No Name Cinema

2013 Pinon St. nonamecinema.org

All ages and skill levels are welcome, and there’ll be free herbal tea to calm you down if you get too heated over a game.

6-8 pm, free

DISTILLERY TOUR

Santa Fe Spirits Distillery

7505 Mallard Way, Ste. 1 (505) 467-8892

Learn how whiskey is made, then check out the barrel aging room before finishing with a tasting. Reservations required.

5 pm, $20

FUN WITH FIREFIGHTERS

Santa Fe Children's Museum

1050 Old Pecos Trail (505) 989-8359

I mean, come on. What kid doesn't want to explore a firetruck?

1-2 pm, free

OPEN MIC POETRY AND MUSIC

Chile Line Brewery

204 N Guadalupe St. (505) 982-8474

Be a modern-day bard for your fellow Santa Feans.  8 pm, free

PAJAMA STORYTIME

Santa Fe Public Library Southside

6599 Jaguar Drive (505) 955-2820

Cozy storytime with parenting experts. For families with children ages 5 and under.

6:30-7:30 pm, free

SEEDS AND SPROUTS

Santa Fe Children's Museum

1050 Old Pecos Trail (505) 989-8359

Little ones explore the natural world. If memory serves us, there are some pretty impressive worm bins to play with...

10:30-11:30 am, free

MUSIC

ALEX MURZYN QUARTET

Club Legato

125 E Palace Ave. (505) 988-9232

Bay Area saxophonist Murzyn and his fellow jazz aficionados hold court.

6 pm, free

ALFREDO RODRÍGUEZ & PEDRITO MARTÍNEZ

Lensic Performing Arts Center

211 W San Francisco St. (505) 988-1234

Two stars of the Cuban jazz scene (one a piano prodigy and the other a street percussionist) team up.

7:30 pm, $25-$49

BILL HEARNE Cowgirl

319 S Guadalupe St. (505) 982-2565

Flat-pickin’ honky tonk.

4-6 pm, free

COUNTRY NIGHT

The Bridge at SF Brewing Co.

37 Fire Place, (505) 886-1251

Sim Balkey hosts the monthly celebration of all things twangy and cowboy-booted.

6-10 pm, free

DUST CITY OPERA DUO

Mine Shaft Tavern

2846 Hwy. 14, Madrid (505) 473-0743

Orchestral folk rock.

7 pm, free

HALF BROKE HORSES

Tiny's Restaurant & Lounge

1005 S St. Francis Drive (505) 983-9817

Two-step your way to honky tonk heaven.

7-10 pm, free

THEATER

THE BABY MONITOR

Santa Fe Playhouse

142 E De Vargas St. (505) 988-4262

The Southwest premiere of David Stallings' meditation on race, class and queer parenting in America. (See 3Qs, page 20)

7:30 pm, $15-$75

WORKSHOP

BUILD MARKETING INTO YOUR START-UP’S DNA

Santa Fe Higher Education Center 1950 Siringo Road creativesantafe.org/events

Julie Crabill discusses maximizing marketing effectiveness for startups. Register online in advance.

6 pm, free

CLARIFYING MEDITATIVE

WORK

Online

bit.ly/3K8d586

Forty minutes of quiet group meditation and gentle discussion.

7-8:30 pm, free SLACKLINING WITH ELI Wise Fool New Mexico

1131 Siler Road, (505) 992-2588

Practice your balance skills—it's good for cognition! All levels welcome.

7-8:30 pm, $23-$168

FRI/3

ART OPENINGS

ATI MAIER: THE WORLD IS MY OYSTER (OPENING)

Peyton Wright Gallery

237 E Palace Ave. (505) 989-9888

Colorful mixed media works offer psychedelic twists on universal landscapes.

5-7 pm, free

CARLOS CANUL: BETWEEN WORLDS (RECEPTION)

Strata Gallery

418 Cerrillos Road (505) 780-5403

Darkly surreal paintings exploring Meso-American mythology. Masks required.

5-7 pm, free

LA VIE DES ARBRES: JEAN MARC RICHEL (RECEPTION)

Santa Fe Public Library Southside

6599 Jaguar Drive (505) 955-2820

Paintings, collages and reverse prints inspired by trees.

4-6 pm, free

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

CALENDAR

Want to see your event listed here?

We’d love to hear from you! Send notices via email to calendar@sfreporter.com.

Make sure you include all the pertinent details such as location, time, price and so forth. It helps us out greatly.

Submission doesn’t guarantee inclusion.

EVENTS

ALL AGES CHESS

Vista Grande Public Library

14 Avenida Torreon, Eldorado (505) 466-7323

Go forth and checkmate that king.

3-5 pm, free

CRASH KARAOKE

Chile Line Brewery

204 N Guadalupe St. (505) 982-8474

Harmonize to your heart’s content.

9 pm-1 am, free

DEMETRI MARTIN: THE JOKE

MACHINE

Lensic Performing Arts Center

211 W San Francisco St. (505) 988-1234

Bone-dry humor from the former Daily Show contributor. (See SFR

Picks, page 17)

7:30 pm, $35-$149

DISTILLERY TOUR

LISA GORDON: WILD THINGS (OPENING)

Sorrel Sky Gallery

125 W Palace Ave.

(505) 501-6555

Celebrating the coming of spring with cast sculptures of Southwestern animals.

5-7 pm, free

PAPER GARDEN: LISBETH CORT (OPENING)

El Zaguán

545 Canyon Road (505) 982-0016

Chromatic collages honoring the gallery’s historic garden.

5-7 pm, free

TERRAN LAST GUN (OPENING)

Hecho Gallery

129 W Palace Ave. (505) 455-6882

Ledger drawings highlighting parallels between Indigenous aesthetics and pop art.

5-7 pm, free

WINTER ABSTRACTIONS:

GROUP SHOW (OPENING)

Gaia Contemporary 225 Canyon Road #6 (505) 501-0415

Mixed-media contemporary works tending towards the abstract.

5-7 pm, free

BOOKS/LECTURES

JACQUELINE OSHEROW AND LAUREN CAMP

Collected Works

Bookstore and Coffeehouse

202 Galisteo St., (505) 988-4226

The state's current poet laureate and the author of Divine Ratios read excerpts from their latest collections.

6 pm, free

MOMENTS IN THE LIBERAL EDUCATION OF FREDERICK

DOUGLASS St. John's College

1160 Camino Cruz Blanca (505) 984-6000

Joseph Macfarland explores Douglass' educational history as glimpsed in My Bondage and my Freedom

7 pm, free

Santa Fe Spirits Distillery 7505 Mallard Way, Ste. 1 (505) 467-8892

Sure, you drink whiskey, but what do you actually know about how it’s made? Go watch the process and sample the results.

5 pm, $20

FINE ART FRIDAYS

Santa Fe Children's Museum

1050 Old Pecos Trail (505) 989-8359

Guests from the Georgia O'Keeffe museum stop by to share a hands-on project with the kiddos.

2-4 pm, free

JAZZ UNDER THE STARS

Sky Railway

410 S Guadalupe St. (844) 743-3759

Live music and low light pollution sure go together well, don't they?

7:45 pm, $109-$139

NATIVE COMMUNITY FOOD DISTRIBUTION

Santa Fe Indigenous Center 1420 Cerrillos Road (505) 660-4210

Free food, clothing and other items for Indigenous folks in need.

10 am-noon, free

FILM

ALIEN

Jean Cocteau Cinema

418 Montezuma Ave. (505) 466-5528

Ridley Scott’s stomach-ripping sci-fi masterpiece. And we're not just praising the filmmaking—have you seen Ripley in that tank top? Good lord.

6 pm, 9 pm, $13-$26

MUSIC

CHARLES TICHENOR CABARET

Los Magueyes Mexican Restaurant

31 Burro Alley (505) 992-0304

King Charles (and occasional guest performers) serenade Burro Alley diners with piano and vocals.

6-9 pm, free

DANIEL SCHWAB AND JERRY WEIMER

First Presbyterian Church

208 Grant Ave., (505) 982-8544

A clarinet program featuring Stravinsky, Bach and more.

5:30 pm, free

FIRST FRIDAY

The Matador

116 W San Francisco St. (505) 984-5050

Matador coming through with the late night offerings again, this time courtesy of DJ Le Kuro Neko.

10 pm-2 am, free

FIRST FRIDAY

New Mexico Museum of Art

107 W Palace Ave. (505) 476-5072

Students from Capital High's guitar ensembles present an evening of classical plucking.

5:30-6:30 pm, free

FIRST FRIDAY: PEDRO REYES' DISARM

SITE Santa Fe

1606 Paseo de Peralta (505) 989-1199

Daniel McCoy Jr. performs on Reyes’ “Disarm Guitar”—an instrument made from repurposed guns.

5:30 pm, free

HILLARY SMITH: SINGS AND SINGS AND SINGS AND SINGS

SITE Santa Fe

1606 Paseo de Peralta (505) 989-1199

The beloved local jazz singer takes on songbook standards, backed by Bob Fox, Alex Murzyn and more.

7 pm, $25-$30

JUSTIN NUÑEZ

Mine Shaft Tavern

2846 Hwy. 14, Madrid (505) 473-0743

Trilingual Burqueño folk and Americana.

8 pm, free

MARION CARRILLO

Cowgirl

319 S Guadalupe St. (505) 982-2565

Singin' and songwritin'.

4-6 pm, free

MUSIC LAB

Tumbleroot Brewery & Distillery

2791 Agua Fría St. (505) 303-3808

Michael Garfield brings together local musicians, painters and dancers for an evening of large group improvs.

7-10 pm, $10

STRANGERS FROM AFAR

Mine Shaft Tavern

2846 Hwy. 14, Madrid (505) 473-0743

Psychedelic folk originals and crowd-pleasing covers.

5 pm, free

THEATER

I LOVE YOU, YOU'RE PERFECT, NOW CHANGE

The Actors Lab

1213 Parkway Drive B (505) 395-6576

Tri-M Productions presents one of the longest-running off Broadway musicals of all time.

(See SFR Picks, page 17)

7 pm, $30-$45

THE BABY MONITOR

Santa Fe Playhouse

142 E De Vargas St. (505) 988-4262

Remember Blanca from Orange is the New Black? Actor Laura Gómez is in town starring in this drama. (See 3Qs, page 20)

7:30 pm, $15-$75

WORKSHOP

ALCHEMY OF BREATH: FULL MOON EXPERIENCE

Bishop's Lodge

1297 Bishops Lodge Road (888) 741-0480

Alison Beckner leads an exploration of breath-work to the sound of Tibetan bowls. RSVP in advance.

7-8 pm, $55

FIRST FRIDAY SPECIAL GUESTS: NEW MEXICO WILDLIFE CENTER

Ralph T. Coe Center for the Arts

1590 Pacheco St., (505) 983-6372 Beth Thompson brings bull snakes, box turtles and more to show off alongside the collection’s own reptiles.

1 pm, free

SAT/4

ART OPENINGS

DANA HART-STONE AND DANA NEWMANN: A STATE OF NEWNESS (OPENING)

Pie Projects

924B Shoofly St., (505) 372-7681

Kicking off the multimedia photo collage exhibition with an artist talk led by William Peterson. (See SFR Picks, page 17)

3:30-6 pm, free

FEAR OF FLYING: HUDSON HEIL (OPENING)

TITLE Gallery

423 W San Francisco St. titlegallery.org Surreal paintings juxtapose humans and birds.

6-8 pm, free

JESSICA LAUREL REESE (OPENING)

Prism Arts & Other Fine Things

1300 Luisa St., Ste. 3A (248) 763-9642

A solo exhibition of figurative sculptures crafted from welded steel rods.

4-7 pm, free

THESE WINGS: MICHAEL GODEY (OPENING)

Eye on the Mountain Art Gallery

222 Delgado St., (928) 308-0319

Godey and Kathy Liden perform original music live to celebrate the new exhibition of sculpture, mixed media and more.

5-8 pm, free

BOOKS/LECTURES

ENCHANTED LAND: ARTIST TALK

Cafe Pasqual's Gallery

103 E Water St., Second Floor (505) 983-9340

Chris Olson discusses the process behind his animistic wood sculptures.  1 pm, free

WAY WORSE THAN ATTICA

Santa Fe Public Library

Main Branch

145 Washington Ave. (505) 955-6780

Dirk Cameron Gibson reads from his book about the infamous 1980 NM prison uprising.

1 pm, free

EVENTS

BIRD WALK MARCH

Santa Fe Botanical Garden

715 Camino Lejo, (505) 471-9103

Take some strolls, watch some birds. Binoculars available.

9-10:30 am, $8-$10

COCKTAILS AND RAILS

Sky Railway

410 S Guadalupe St. (844) 743-3759

Let live music and rumble of the rails wash away residual stress.

8:30 pm, $99-$129

COMMUNITY CONVERSATIONS WITH THE QC: I GOT YOU

Santa Fe Public Library Southside

6599 Jaguar Drive (505) 955-2820

The new branch of the Human Rights Alliance discusses how to show up for loved ones in crisis.

9 am, free

DISTILLERY TOUR

Santa Fe Spirits Distillery

7505 Mallard Way, Ste. 1 (505) 467-8892

Booze and barrel aging.

5 pm, $20

EL MUSEO CULTURAL MERCADO

El Museo Cultural de Santa Fe

555 Camino de la Familia (505) 992-0591

Art, antiques and more.

9 am-4 pm, free

FLOWERING POETRY CLUB

OPEN MIC

Travel Bug Coffee Shop

839 Paseo de Peralta (505) 992-0418

Your verses need not be flowery to participate. (See Food, page 27)

6 pm, free

MEET CORNELIUS

Santa Fe Children's Museum

1050 Old Pecos Trail (505) 989-8359

We’ve heard Loki the Mexican black kingsnake might give this cornsnake a run for his crown.

1-2 pm, free

READ TO A PUP!

Santa Fe Public Library Southside

6599 Jaguar Drive (505) 955-2820

Tots read aloud to dogs. Aww.

11:30 am-12:30 pm, free

SCIENCE SATURDAYS

Santa Fe Children's Museum

1050 Old Pecos Trail (505) 989-8359

Hubert Van Hecke (Mr. Science) leads an experiment.

2-4 pm, free

THE SF ARTISTS MARKET

In the West Casitas, north of the water tower 1612 Alcaldesa St. santafeartistsmarket.com

A juried art market featuring furniture, textiles and more.

9 am-2 pm, free

FILM

ALIEN

Jean Cocteau Cinema

418 Montezuma Ave. (505) 466-5528

We just want late ‘70s Sigourney Weaver to hold us the way she carries that cat.

6 pm, 9 pm, $13-$26

BRETTA C. WALKER AND JEAN-JACQUES MARTINOD No Name Cinema

2013 Pinon St., nonamecinema.org

Experimental shorts followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers.

7:30-9:30 pm, $5-$15 suggested

MUSIC

CHARLES TICHENOR CABARET

Los Magueyes Mexican Restaurant 31 Burro Alley, (505) 992-0304 Piano and vocals.

6-9 pm, free

DEF-I WITH DJ ELEMENT

Tumbleroot Brewery and Distillery 2791 Agua Fria St. (505) 393-5135

Indigenous hip-hop.

8 pm, $10

DISCOVERING THE MUSIC OF PAINTINGS

Strata Gallery 418 Cerrillos Road (505) 780-5403

Oliver Prezant guides a violinist, clarinetist and cellist through musical interpretations of Carlos Canul's paintings.

2-3:30 pm, $25

FRIENDS AND FAM

Honeymoon Brewery

907 W Alameda St., Ste. B (505) 303-3139

DJs Raashan, T.I.E. and Ami host the dance party of your dreams.

8 pm-midnight, free

MÚSICA ANTIGUA DE ALBUQUERQUE: THE PILGRIM'S PATH

St. Bede's Episcopal Church 550 W San Mateo (505) 842-9613

Medieval compositions about pilgrimage, played with period instruments. We hear there may be a hurdy gurdy in the mix...

4:30 pm, $10-$20

ROBERT FOX JAZZ TRIO Club Legato

125 E Palace Ave. (505) 988-9232

Recognize Bob’s name from that Hillary Smith show?

6 pm, free

RON ROUGEAU

Pink Adobe 406 Old Santa Fe Trail (505) 983-7712

Acoustic ‘60s and ‘70s tunes.

5:30-7:30 pm, free

RUDY BOY EXPERIMENT

Mine Shaft Tavern

2846 Hwy. 14, Madrid (505) 473-0743

They describe themselves as "swingin' dirty blues,” so expect some growling and howling.

8 pm, free

STANLIE KEE AND STEP IN Cowgirl

319 S Guadalupe St. (505) 982-2565

Rockin' blues.

1-4 pm, free

Full Circle

Promoters

After eight and six years, respectively, with Albuquerque-based nonprofit concerts organization AMP Concerts, promoters Jamie Lenfestey and Tim Franke have accepted positions at the Lensic Performing Arts Center under a new initiative dubbed Lensic 360, which will find the Santa Fe arts center branching out into events beyond its flagship downtown theater. Lenfestey will take on the role of director of the new program, with Franke serving as associate director.

Readers are no doubt familiar with Lenfestey and Franke’s work in music venues around town. Lenfestey has been putting on shows since 1992, previously with nonprofit Heath Concerts and, before that, Fan Man Productions. The two have produced events at the Santa Fe Opera, the free Summer Railyard Series and Santa Fe Salutes shows, as well as, in recent years, the Santa Fe Bandstand concerts on the Plaza that were previously curated by nonprofit Outside In. Lenfestey has also booked shows at the Lensic since 2001, when it was renovated and reopened after a period of disrepair in the ’90s.

“This was not something I’d seen on the radar screen,” Lenfestey tell SFR of the move, “but [Lensic Executive Director] Joel Aalberts

had been looking for ways for the Lensic to expand its reach as the premier performing arts center in the state. It’s one stage; there are only so many days in the year and there’s just so much more we can do.”

In addition to upcoming events at its namesake venue, Lensic 360 will also find Lenfestey and Franke booking at venues such as the Santa Fe Opera, Meow Wolf, The Bridge at Santa Fe Brewing Company, plus Kit Carson Park in Taos as well as Albuquerque’s National Hispanic Cultural Center, El Rey Theater and elsewhere.

“It extends our reach in how we get into the communities where people live,” Aalberts tells SFR. “We already do so many things that are focused on the community as a whole, this makes those opportunities greater and allows us to engage with different arts experiences. It’s a great way for us to have a lifelong connection with an audience, from the very first performing arts you come to as a kindergartner to your time in the clubs to coming back to the theater as an adult.”

Lenfestey credits the Lensic’s reopening as a major factor in his decision to stay in Santa Fe long-term. Shortly before the oncedark movie and performance theater rose like some kind of deathless art phoenix back in the early aughts, he had planned on moving to California. News of the then-revamped space convinced him to stay, he says, and, in many ways, his new position feels like a homecoming, thus the 360 moniker.

“My career took off when the Lensic reopened,” he explains. “And Tim [Franke] started in the box office there, so for both of us, it’s nice coming full circle.”

Additionally, Lenfestey notes, AMP Concerts, while having a proven track record in excellent promotions, remains an Albuquerque organization, whereas the Lensic’s deep roots in the Santa Fe community are obvious. Otherwise, Franke says, concertgoers should expect no discernible difference in programming. Even so, events like the Santa Fe Bandstand series are up for

bid, and Lensic 360 plans to respond to a city request for proposals later this year.

Franke says he sees many positives on the horizon.

“It’s pretty much Jamie and I doing what we’ve been doing already, but with a Santa Fe organization,” he tells SFR. “The support system is amazing there; they’re total pros, they have an amazing team and board. Honestly? I feel great about it.”

AMP Concerts Executive Director Neal Copperman, meanwhile, tells SFR that AMP had already started preliminary work for potential Santa Fe Bandstand series shows prior to the announcement of Lensic 360, and will also bid to produce the program. He further notes the nonprofit will continue to book and promote Santa Fe events.

“AMP’s schedule is full of killer shows in venues across Santa Fe, with plenty more in the works,” Copperman says in a written statement. “We wish Jamie and Tim well in their new endeavors and look forward to continuing to provide Santa Fe with plenty of

great concerts in the future.”

Back on the Lensic front, Lenfestey has already announced a glut of upcoming shows, including Israel Vibration, Violent Femmes and Mary Chapin Carpenter. Music fans can expect more soon, he says. Information isavailable on the lensic360.org website.

“What we’re getting is the infrastructure and support of the Lensic staff and board and the full PR team, production team; everything,” Lenfestey says. “If I can in some way help grow the Lensic, that will be profoundly meaningful to me.”

Aalberts certainly seems sold on the new opportunities.

“If we can be a part of the larger process, be engaged with all genders, all races, all walks of life—have things that touch you during the year...well, that’s exciting to be involved with,” he adds. “It’s part of what our community already offers, but it changes our communications, hopefully, so it’s not, ‘Is there something going on tonight?’ it’s, ‘What’s going on tonight?’”

The new Lensic 360 initiative will still find shows going down in the performance center, but also throughout Santa Fe and beyond.

KATE RUSSELL PHOTOGRAPHY / COOURTESY THE LENSIC

IT’s BACK! Santa Fe Monothon

2023:

A Marathon of Printmaking

The City of Santa Fe Arts and Culture Department’s Community Gallery invites you to participate in Santa Fe MONOTHON 2023.

Santa Fe MONOTHON 2023 is a community based fundraising event to benefit the local youth arts non-profit, Partners in Education, through the sale of one-of-a-kind monoprint artworks by local artists and the generosity of the community. Help support this great cause (and the local creative economy) for MONOTHON Print Week, April 1-8, 2023 to be held in up to 7 print shops throughout Santa Fe.

now open: Sign-up for artists ($340 per 5 hour session) For more info and to sponsor: monothonsantafe.com

A Bug’s Life

So much more than luggage, Travel Bug gets into the beer game

BY ALEX DE VORE alex@sfreporter.com

You’ll find not one but two signs at downtown travel shop, bookstore and, perhaps unexpectedly, café and beer outpost, Travel Bug that read, “Buy books from people who want to sell books, not colonize the moon.”

And you know what? Heard. It’s a solid dig at the most dig-at-able Jeff Bezos’ seeming war on independently owned bookshops for sure. And even in Santa Fe, where folks go around telling people we’re progressive as all get-out, many still patronize Amazon more than our local haunts. That on its own wouldn’t be so bad—people are only human—but it’s usually at that point we turn around and wonder why things have changed so much around here for locals.

I digress. In the case of Travel Bug, change is good. But then, maybe it’s not change-change so much as it’s a method-

ical and deliberate evolution that has played out over many years under the watchful eye of owner Greg Ohlsen. When one thinks of Travel Bug, they likely envision suitcases and paper maps, maybe a nice sunhat or a sturdy water-resistant watch. It’s the place you go when you want or need a high quality printout of a USGS map pulled from any coordinates in the country. And though you’ll surely find those things, Travel Bug also boasts a comfy café with a simple menu of hits such as panini, a breakfast sandwich and bagels, plus coffee; Ohlsen has also been brewing his own beer on the premises lately.

And though it is notable that Travel Bug is also the only Briggs & Riley luggage retailer in the city, not to mention a solid stop for new-release non-travel books, I specifically visited one recent afternoon to learn more about the burgeoning beer program and to get a little snack. After doing so, I’m ready to call it, folks: Travel Bug is a winner, and more people should hang out there.

Of course, you probably know the name. The business has been a Santa Fe fixture since 1998, when Ohlsen, formerly a contractor, opened up on Montezuma Street near the former Sanbusco Center. Previously, circa 1990, Ohlsen and his wife, Ellen Stelling, founded Garcia Street Books, but they sold that business when Travel Bug opened. Since then, they’ve been adding any elements to their travel mecca that strike their fancy, including the aforementioned menu and beer, plus travel talks, poetry readings, slide shows and more. It was enough to make me ask myself why I don’t frequent the place, but em-

ployee Devin Horne kind of hits the nail on the head: “I just don’t think people know it’s all here,” she says. “But they should.”

When it comes to house-brewed beer, for example, most folks might not immediately grok to a travel store carrying that particular item. It’s just the one variety for now: an IPA-style number that’s still in flux a bit, but it’s reportedly getting better with each new batch. The small sample I tasted was not over-hoppy, but it was certainly refreshing and bordering more on the traditional pale ale style. Considering Ohlsen only started brewing beer in earnest during the pandemic, though, it feels like he’s on the right path.

“It’s a challenge, it’s harder than I thought, I watched a lot of YouTube,” he tells SFR. “I went around and talked to the local brewers, but it can be hard to learn how to do anything just from talking to people.”

Ohlsen’s one of those can-do types, though, so he’s making it happen. Travel Bug serves up a damn fine cup of coffee, too, from Albuquerque’s Red Rock Roasters, and though the shop doesn’t offer drip, note you can get espresso drinks—including an Americano; $2-$3.95 depending on your preferred number of shots. Really, this trip was about the ham panino with roasted red peppers and sun dried tomatoes. At $9.95 it’s a good deal, and you can add the aforementioned beer if you like ($4 per half-pint, $6 for a full-pint) or just stick with coffee. You can enjoy it all in the cozy inside space’s seating areas, or, once warmer months roll around, the street side patio on Paseo de Peralta. Ohlsen is even kicking around the idea of adding a small pizza oven to his operations, but that’s not a done deal yet. Besides, the business is already working for many patrons as-is, especially nearby resident Judy Costlow. “I come in here most every day,” she tells SFR. “I like the ambiance, the coffee, the treats.”

Ditto, Judy. In fact, if I were looking for a place to do some writing, pick up a new novel or even just hoping to throw down a quick sandwich with a bud, Travel Bug is pretty high up on my list now. Or how about knocking back a cold one, recently brewed, while enjoying a travel-based slideshow or poetry reading some evening? Sounds like summertime magic to me.

FLOWERING POETRY CLUB OPEN MIC:

6 pm Saturday, March 4

Suggested donation Travel Bug

839 Paseo de Peralta (505) 992-0418

In Other News

More Coffee

Having stumbled upon a friend’s Facebook post last week about a new Iconik Coffee Roasters location inside the former Discount Tires building at 1366 Cerrillos Road, I found myself sitting inside with a different friend not even an hour later. Ask anyone who knows me and they’ll tell you I’m an Ohori’s guy, but the new Iconik, dubbed Red, is a real stunner, from its warm yet industrial environs to its ample seating and convenient location. So why haven’t some of you heard about this yet? Well, according to a very nice manager, the location is in the midst of a soft opening. I salute the endeavor, as it was nice to be in there without a million yahoos working on their screenplays or whatever. Was there talk of gentrification and how SFR sucks on the @sfreporter Instagram pic I posted that day? You bet! But when something changes from a tire chain to a locally owned coffee shop...well, let’s just say worse things have happened to our town. And anyway, Discount Tire literally moved, like, 50 yards away from its original location, so if you’re missing that specific business, don’t fret. As for Iconik Red, well, you could probably call (505) 375-0741 or just head over to iconikcoffee.com for more info, though as of this writing the site had not been updated with the most current info on the new space.

More Tacos

Speaking of new locations for things, Fusion Tacos announced via its Facebook that it’ll bring a truck over to 1704 Llano Street as of Feb. 28. Obviously that’s a few days ago, but it’s pretty cool that Fusion is giving people who fear the Southside a chance to sample its famous and beloved tacos. For those new to the business, they’re excellent tacos, too, and the breakfast burrito is a personal favorite. You can also get what they call ramen-birria, which is a real banger.

If you’re looking to hang out and have a nice cup of coffee or a house made beer, add Travel Bug to your list of places to go. You can buy books there, too, and not just about travel.

ALEX DE VORE

Cocaine Bear Review

Funny, but not ha-ha funny

BY ALEX DE VORE alex@sfreporter.com

When filmmakers find and jump rope with that razor-thin line that makes a movie steeped in violence and humor actually funny and intriguing—like the original Scream or Cabin in the Woods—audiences sometimes get an unexpected gem. When it comes to Cocaine Bear, however, from director Elizabeth Banks (whom you might know as a performer from Wet Hot American Summer, 30 Rock or Pitch Perfect), we instead get a barely-there idea extrapolated into a subpar pseudo drug thriller/comedy with some pretty big actors who seem kind of bored and maybe just did the film because it sounded cool to hang out and laugh at the idea of a stoned bear.

At its best, Cocaine Bear pays homage to ’80s slasher movies with stylized death scenes bordering on the absurd; but, like, with a bear. At its worst, it’s ridiculous, but not fun ridiculous so much as a painfully drawn out retelling of the same joke over and over.

In real life, it’s true that a bear in the Georgia woods happened upon a stash of cocaine dumped from a crashing plane by some cop turned drug runner. But whereas the real bear pretty much overdosed and died (and, for some reason, now exists in taxidermy form in a Kentucky mall), Banks’ new

ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA

3 + JONATHAN MAJORS IS THE COOLEST - WE’RE BEGGING YOU FOR A BREATHER, MARVEL—BEGGING!

Remember this point in the Marvel cinematic universe, everybody, because it will likely—or should—go down as that critical mass moment when we collectively looked up at the screen and said something like, “Jesus, how many times can we watch the same fucking movie?!”

For some, that time has come and gone. For those who see the new Ant-Man—well, let’s just ask if you’re familiar with the reasons one might shoot an injured horse?

In Quantumania, we rejoin Scott Lang, aka AntMan (Paul Rudd, who is always likable, even in shit movies), and Hope Van Dyne, aka The Wasp (a painfully forgettable Evangeline Lilly), after the events of the last movie wherein...actually, wait; what happened in that movie? Anyway, they’re living normal-ish, post-Thanos lives when Scott’s daughter, Cassie (Kathryn Newton), unveils a science project she’s been working on. Wouldn’t you know it, though, the thing sucks everybody into the quantum realm—which is that subatomic world where Hope’s mom, Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer), found herself marooned for 30 years, according to the first film. It’s the same place her husband, Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), has theorized for decades while making his tech that makes things real big or real small and through which the Avengers time traveled or something a bunch of movies and shows ago.

It turns out Janet’s insistence she was alone for those 30 years is false. Heck, there’s a whole-ass civi-

film asks us to consider the idea that the only thing this bear loves more than a big-ass pile of blow is killing.

Oh, sure, it’s mildly fun watching the bear go nuts in its pursuit of more coke, and Margo Martindale provides a few yuks as in inept park ranger. But throw in subdued performances from Ray Liotta (in his final role before his death, yikes) as a drug boss with ties to a Colombian cartel, O’Shea Jackson Jr. as his henchman, Alden Ehrenreich as his reluctant son and Kerri Russell as a mom trying to find her kid in the woods, and it just seems like a whole lot of filler that gets in the way of the bear chomping faces. Not even a very funny turn from Isiah Whitlock Jr. (BlacKkKlansman) can save this thing from its own abysmal pacing and pedestrian setup. Wait, is it possible they made this thing for tax purposes?

lization down there, and it’s presented in the most boring Star Wars-esque/vague technology/weird “aliens”/ you’ve-seen-this-so-many-times-before fashion possible. This is where Scott and the gang learn Janet is responsible for some bad stuff and was subsequently part of some uprising against a despotic über-villain named Kang (Jonathan Majors, who is about the only one to actually try acting in this movie). Under this guy, the quantum realm’s denizens are so oppressed it’s nuts, only we don’t super care because the movie doesn’t bother to make us care. Everybody runs someplace. Explosions explode. Someone says something about family being important.

Toss in some exhausting jokes about cultural differences, some pathetic lines about civil disobedience as presented by the Disney corporation and a whole lot of indiscernible CGI visual soup, and you’ve got yet another paint-by-numbers Marvel outing that proves they make too many of these things and release them too often—and Michael Peña, being the funniest parts of the other two, isn’t even in the damn thing. Wait a sec. Did he die in the last one? Sincerely can’t recall. Aw, who cares?

Rudd’s a national treasure, obviously, and will always be lovable for shirking a career as a dimensionless handsome dude for weirder roles and goofball movies. Majors, meanwhile, is one of the best actors currently going, even if his deep dive into Kang can’t save the overall movie. Pfeiffer and Douglas exist as expositional cyphers, meanwhile, and Newton’s turn as Scott’s daughter is...what do you call it when a character only exists so another one does something? There are cameos, too, and surprise characters; William Jackson Harper from The Good Place can grace our screens any time. Mainly, though, Ant-Man feels

Anyway, Cocaine Bear already made more money than Ant-Man did this week, which is telling, and certainly some will have fun with its over-the-top tone. Still, those with a gore aversion need not apply here, and those who’ve cut their teeth on better examples of funny violent movies cold probably rattle off a list of more enjoyable films (2010’s Pirhana 3D, for example). If you’re killing time, Cocaine Bear does the trick, but one does wonder how Banks made such a strange premise into one of the more tedious films of the year so far.

COCAINE BEAR

Directed by Banks

With Liotta, Jackson Jr., Whitlock Jr., Ehrenreich, Russell and Martindale Violet Crown, Regal, R, 95 min.

like a Marvel commercial, a tepid entry, the peak toomuch-CGI turning point in a cinematic universe that comes at us too fast and too furious while refusing to break new ground. One recalls a time when we almost never got comic book movies. One now longs for that time. (ADV)

Violet Crown, Regal, PG-13, 125 min.

KNOCK AT THE CABIN 5

+ UNSETTLING PREMISE; BAUTISTA - UNSATISFYING PAYOFF; NARRATIVE DEAD ENDS

Oh, M. Night Shyamalan, you’ve done it again! You’ve taken a mega-intriguing premise and let it fizzle out with an ending that can’t possibly live up to the elements you put in place along the way. You did it with Old when the payoff was that one beach just plain made people old somehow; you did with it with Mr. Glass when Bruce Willis’ nouveau-superhero just kind of died; and now you’ve done it with Knock at the Cabin, wherein the ending just kind of rolls up on the viewer leaving us to be like, “Huh...”

Based on the Paul G. Tremblay novel, The Cabin at the End of the World, Shyamalan’s newest finds a couple of dads (Spring Awakening/Hamilton originator Jonathan Groff and Ben Aldridge, Pennyworth) on vacation in some Pennsylvania cabin, where they become the victims of a quartet of home invaders led by hulking teacher/b-ball coach Leonard (Dave Bautista, Guardians of the Galaxy). With the dads is their 7-year-old adopted daughter, Wen (Kristen Cui), which kind of makes things more tense, even if her presence feels like a plot device rather than a meaningful addition; Leonard leads a forgettable

cadre of over-actors, save Harry Potter alum Rupert Grint, who at least tries to summon some intensity.

Seems Leonard and his gang have been experiencing convincing visions about the end of the world, and those visions have led them to this very cabin where they’ll need to ask the unwitting inhabitants to make the worst decision ever. If their captives don’t do the unthinkable, Leonard and the gang believe, it’ll usher in the end of the world, courtesy of God himself. Creepy stuff happens as our leads teeter between disbelief and belief, and we’re meant to question how we’d behave if we, too, became participants in the worst camping trip ever.

As with most of his work, Shyamalan’s cinematography is stunning and inventive. Still, he once again establishes narrative threads that just kind of go nowhere. While Groff and Aldridge do their best with clunky dialogue and fleeting flashback vignettes—not to mention the vaguest hint of ill-considered “queer-bashing is wrong!” rhetoric. Yes, it is, but once again we’re trapped in a trauma loop and it feels more manipulative than vital to the story. Bautista, meanwhile, proves he’s come into his own as a performer. The dichotomy of Leonard’s imposing presence and soft-spoken portends of terror is as unsettling as it gets, but anytime he’s not on screen one longs for his return.

And then it ends, not with a bang but a whimper. Those who’ve seen movies before will no doubt predict what’s coming, even through some intensely enjoyable plot beats. If the moral is that belief and faith are something-something, then cool. It’s just the whole getting there part that feels tedious.

(ADV)

Violet Crown, Regal, R, 100 min.

by Matt Jones

PSYCHICS

Rob Brezsny Week of March 1st

ARIES (March 21-April 19): In 1993, I began work on my memoirish novel The Televisionary Oracle. It took me seven years to finish. The early part of the process was tough. I generated a lot of material I didn’t like. Then one day, I discovered an approach that liberated me: I wrote about aspects of my character and behavior that needed improvement. Suddenly everything clicked, and my fruitless adventure transformed into a fluidic joy. Soon I was writing about other themes and experiences. But dealing with self-correction was a key catalyst. Are there any such qualities in yourself you might benefit from tackling, Aries? If so, I recommend you try my approach.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Two Taurus readers complained that my horoscopes contain too much poetry and flair to be useful. In response, I’m offering you a prosaic message. It’s all true, though in a way that’s more like a typical horoscope. (I wonder if this approach will spur your emotional intelligence and your soul’s lust for life, which are crucial areas of growth for you these days.) Anyway, here’s the oracle: Take a risk and extend feelers to interesting people outside your usual sphere. But don’t let your social adventures distract you from your ambitions, which also need your wise attention. Your complex task: Mix work and play; synergize business and pleasure.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Astrologer Jessica Shepherd advises us to sidle up to the Infinite Source of Life and say, “Show me what you’ve got.” When we do, we often get lucky. That’s because the Infinite Source of Life delights in bringing us captivating paradoxes. Yes and no may both be true in enchanting ways. Independence and interdependence can interweave to provide us with brisk teachings. If we dare to experiment with organized wildness and aggressive receptivity, our awareness will expand, and our heart will open. What about it, Gemini?

Are you interested in the charming power that comes from engaging with cosmic contradictions? Now’s a favorable time to do so. Go ahead and say, “Show me what you’ve got” to the Infinite Source of Life.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): “Only a lunatic would dance when sober,” declared the ancient Roman philosopher Cicero. As a musician who loves to dance, I reject that limiting idea—especially for you. In the upcoming weeks, I hope you will do a lot of dancing-while-sober. Singingwhile-sober, too. Maybe some crying-for-joy-whilesober, as well as freewheeling-your-way-throughunpredictable-conversations-while-sober and cavortingand-reveling-while-sober. My point is that there is no need for you to be intoxicated as you engage in revelry. Even further: It will be better for your soul’s long-term health if you are lucid and clearheaded as you celebrate this liberating phase of extra joy and pleasure.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Poet Mary Oliver wondered whether the soul is solid and unbreakable, like an iron bar. Or is it tender and fragile, like a moth in an owl’s beak? She fantasized that maybe it’s shaped like an iceberg or a hummingbird’s eye. I am poetically inclined to imagine the soul as a silver diadem bedecked with emeralds, roses, and live butterflies. What about you, Leo? How do you experience your soul? The coming weeks will be a ripe time to home in on this treasured part of you. Feel it, consult with it, feed it. Ask it to surprise you!

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): According to the color consultant company Pantone, Viva Magenta is 2023’s color of the year. According to me, Viva Magenta is the lucky hue and power pigment for you Virgos during the next ten months. Designer Amber Guyton says that Viva Magenta “is a rich shade of red that is both daring and warm.” She adds that its “purple undertone gives it a warmth that sets it apart from mere red and makes it more versatile.” For your purposes, Virgo, Viva Magenta is earthy and exciting; nurturing and inspiring; soothing yet arousing. The coming weeks will be a good time to get the hang of incorporating its spirit into your life.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): If you are not working to forge a gritty solution, you may be reinforcing a cozy predicament. If you’re not expanding your imagination to conjure up fresh perspectives, you could be contributing to some ignorance or repression. If you’re not pushing to expose dodgy secrets and secret agendas, you might be supporting the whitewash. Know what I’m saying, Libra? Here’s a further twist. If you’re not peeved about the times you have wielded your anger unproductively, you may not use it brilliantly in the near future. And I really hope you will use it brilliantly.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Storyteller Martin Shaw believes that logic and factual information are not enough to sustain us. To nourish our depths, we need the mysterious stories provided by myths and fairy tales. He also says that conventional hero sagas starring big, strong, violent men are outmoded. Going forward, we require wily, lyrical tales imbued with the spirit of the Greek word metis, meaning “divine cunning in service to wisdom.” That’s what I wish for you now, Scorpio. I hope you will tap into it abundantly. As you do, your creative struggles will lead to personal liberations. For inspiration, read myths and fairy tales.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Many astrologers don’t give enough encouragement to you Sagittarians on the subject of home. I will compensate for that. I believe it’s a perfect time to prioritize your feelings of belonging and your sense of security. I urge you to focus energy on creating serenity and stability for yourself. Honor the buildings and lands you rely on. Give extra appreciation to the people you regard as your family and tribe. Offer blessings to the community that supports you.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): If you are like 95 percent of the population, you weren’t given all the love and care you needed as a child. You may have made adaptations to partly compensate for this lack, but you are still running a deficit. That’s the bad news, Capricorn. The good news is that the coming weeks will be a favorable time to overcome at least some of the hurt and sadness caused by your original deprivation. Life will offer you experiences that make you feel more at home in the world and at peace with your destiny and in love with your body. Please help life help you! Make yourself receptive to kindness and charity and generosity.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): The philosopher Aldous Huxley was ambitious and driven. Author of almost 50 books, he was a passionate pacifist and explorer of consciousness. He was a visionary who expressed both dystopian and utopian perspectives. Later in his life, though, his views softened. “Do not burn yourselves out,” he advised readers. “Be as I am: a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it.” Now I’m offering you Huxley’s counsel, Aquarius. As much as I love your zealous idealism and majestic quests, I hope that in the coming weeks, you will recharge yourself with creature comforts.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Piscean author and activist W. E. B. Dubois advised us to always be willing to give up what we are. Why? Because that’s how we transform into a deeper and stronger version of ourselves. I think you would benefit from using his strategy. My reading of the astrological omens tells me that you are primed to add through subtraction, to gain power by shedding what has become outworn and irrelevant. Suggested step one: Identify dispiriting self-images you can jettison. Step two: Visualize a familiar burden you could live without. Step three: Drop an activity that bores you. Step four: Stop doing something that wastes your time.

Homework: What’s something you’d be wise to let go of? What’s something to hold on to tighter? Newsletter. FreeWillastrology.com

Go to RealAstrology.com to check out Rob Brezsny’s Expanded Weekly Audio Horoscopes and Daily Text Message Horoscopes . The audio horoscopes are also available by phone at 1-877-873-4888 or 1-900-950-7700. © COPYRIGHT 2023 ROB BREZSNY

PSYCHIC/TAROT READINGS & SPIRITUAL COUNSELING

“We saw you around this time last year and you were so accurate. We were hoping to schedule another session” S. W. , Santa Fe. For more information call 505-982-8327 or visit www.alexofavalon.com.

MIND BODY SPIRIT

What we feel, know, and see is true. Sometimes we need a spiritual guide to assist in seeing our truth. Osara, an African water deity is your natural mirror, come see yourself/ come see Osara. 505-810-3018

ARE YOU A THERAPIST OR HEALER? YOU BELONG IN MIND BODY SPIRIT! CALL: 988.5541 OR EMAIL: SJ@SFREPORTER.COM TODAY!

LEGALS SERVICE DIRECTORY

IN THE PROBATE COURT COUNTY OF SANTA FE STATE OF NEW MEXICO Case No. 2023-0019

IN THE MATTER OF THE ESTATE OF RICHARD D. GILL, DECEASED. NOTICE TO CREDITORS BY PUBLICATION

Thank you Santa Fe for voting us BEST of Santa Fe 2022 and trusting us for 44 years and counting. We are like a fire department that puts out fires before they happen! Thank you for trusting us to protect what’s most important to you.

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that JANET L. GILL has been appointed Personal Representative of the Estate of the decedent. All persons having claims against the estate of the decedent are required to present their claims within four months after the date of the first publication of any published Notice to Creditors or 60 days after the date of mailing or other delivery of this notice, whichever is later, or the claims will be forever barred. Claims must be presented either to the undersigned counsel for the personal representative at the address listed below or filed with the Probate Court, County of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Respectfully submitted by:

JAY GOODMAN & ASSOCIATES LAW FIRM, P.C.

Thomas E. Dow, Esq.

Jay Goodman & Associates Law Firm, P.C. Attorney for Personal Representative

2019 Galisteo St. #C3 Santa Fe, NM 87505

T: (505) 989-8117

E: tdow@jaygoodman.com

STATE OF NEW MEXICO IN THE PROBATE COURT SANTA FE COUNTY IN THE MATTER OF THE ESTATE OF Mercedes Carrillo, DECEASED. No. 2023-0023 NOTICE TO CREDITORS NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the undersigned has been appointed personal representative of the estate of the decedent. All persons having claims against the estate of the decedent are required to present their claims within four (4) months after the date of the first publication of any published notice to creditors or sixty (60) days after the date of mailing or other delivery of this notice, whichever is later, or the claims will be forever barred. Claims must be presented either to the undersigned personal representative at the address listed below, or filed with the Probate Court of Santa Fe County, New Mexico, located at the following address: P.O. BOX 1985, Santa Fe, N.M.

87504

Dated: Feb 16, 2023

Anita Martinez

3305 Maxum LN NW Albuquerque, NM 87104

STATE OF NEW MEXICO COUNTY OF SANTA FE

FIRST JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT CASE NO: D-101-CV-2023-00343

IN THE MATTER OF A PETITION FOR CHANGE OF NAME OF SHERIDYN LOURDES HOUSTON NOTICE OF CHANGE OF NAME TAKE NOTICE that in accordance with the Provisions of Sec. 408-1 through Sec. 40-8-3 NMSA 1978, et seq. The Petitioner, Sheridyn Lourdes Houston will apply to the Honorable BRYAN BIEDSCHEID, District Court Judge of the First Judicial District at the Santa Fe Judicial Complex, 225 Montezuma Ave., in Santa Fe, New Mexico at 4:00 pm on the 25th day of April, 2023 for an ORDER FOR CHANGE OF NAME from SHERIDYN LOURDES HOUSTON to SHERIDYN LOURDES GONZALES KATHLEEN VIGIL, District Court Clerk

By: TAMARA SNEE Deputy Court Clerk

STATE OF NEW MEXICO COUNTY OF SANTA FE FIRST JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT CASE NO: D-101-CV-2023-00294

IN THE MATTER OF A PETITION FOR CHANGE OF NAME OF CHASTY HOPE AGUILAR NOTICE OF CHANGE OF NAME TAKE NOTICE that in accordance with the Provisions of Sec. 408-1 through Sec. 40 8-3 NMSA 1978, et seq. The Petitioner, Chasty Hope Aguilar will apply to the Honorable KATHLEEN McGARRY ELLENWOOD, District Court Judge of the First Judicial District at the Santa Fe Steve Herrera Judicial Complex, 225 Montezuma Ave., in Santa Fe, New Mexico at 10:00 am on the 7th day of April, 2023 for an ORDER FOR CHANGE OF NAME from CHASTY HOPE AGUILAR to CHASTY HOPE BLACK. KATHLEEN VIGIL, District Court Clerk

STATE OF NEW MEXICO

COUNTY OF SANTA FE

FIRST JUDICIAL DISTRICT

COURT CASE NO: D-101-CV-2023-00408

IN THE MATTER OF A PETITION FOR CHANGE OF NAME OF SARVASMARANA

MA NITHYA NOTICE OF CHANGE OF NAME TAKE NOTICE that in accordance with the Provisions of Sec. 40-8-1 through Sec. 40-83 NMSA 1978, et seq. The Petitioner, Sarvasmarana Ma Nithya will apply to the Honorable MATTHEW J WILSON, District Court

Judge of the First Judicial District at the Santa Fe Steve Herrera Judicial Complex, 225 Montezuma Ave., in Santa Fe, New Mexico at 2:15 pm on the 13th day of April, 2023 for an ORDER FOR CHANGE OF NAME from SARVASMARANA MA NITHYA to AVA AMOR.

KATHLEEN VIGIL, District Court

Clerk

By: Marina Sisneros Deputy Court Clerk

STATE OF NEW MEXICO

COUNTY OF SANTA FE

FIRST JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT CASE NO: D-101-CV-2022-00355 IN THE MATTER OF A PETITION FOR CHANGE OF NAME OF BRITTNEY ANNE WEED NOTICE OF CHANGE OF NAME TAKE NOTICE that in accordance with the Provisions of Sec. 40-8-1 through Sec. 40 8-3 NMSA 1978, et seq. The Petitioner, Brittney Anne Weed will apply to the Honorable BRYAN BIEDSCHEID, District Court Judge of the First Judicial District at the Santa Fe Steve Herrera Judicial Complex, 225 Montezuma Ave., in Santa Fe, New Mexico at 4:10 am on the 25th day of April, 2023 for an ORDER FOR CHANGE OF NAME from BRITTNEY ANNE WEED to SAGE SUMMERS.

KATHLEEN VIGIL, District Court Clerk

By: Diego Olivas Deputy Court Clerk

By: Marina Sisneros Deputy Court

Clerk